Armenia announces military exercises with US

Amid ongoing tensions with Russia, Armenia has announced joint military exercises with the United States next week. The Kremlin called the announcement “alarming”.

A maneuver planned for early next week between Armenia and the United States is angering the Kremlin. Such news is cause for concern – especially in the current situation, said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia will follow further developments very closely.

The military exercise “Eagle Partner 2023” will begin next Monday and last ten days. According to the Armenian Ministry of Defense, the maneuver includes measures to stabilize conflicts while carrying out peacekeeping operations.

According to the US military, 85 American and 175 Armenian soldiers will participate. Participants were armed only with rifles – no heavy weapons were used. So maneuverability is relatively small.

Russia sees itself as a force of order

Anger in the Kremlin is because Russia sees itself as a regional regulating force. Moscow maintains a military base in Armenia and is supposed to use peacekeepers to monitor the ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries have been fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region for decades.

Recently the situation came to a head again: there was a shootout with dead and wounded. Food and medicine supplies in Nagorno-Karabakh are also catastrophic, according to observers. For some days only bread is provided against vouchers.

Armenian Criticism of Russia

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is clearly disappointed with Russia’s role in the conflict. Over the weekend, in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, he accused Moscow of not adequately guaranteeing his country’s security needs. A security partnership with Russia is a strategic mistake.

Kremlin spokesman Peskov immediately rejected the criticism and said that Russia was an absolutely integral part of the region and played a very important role in stabilizing the situation there. And we will continue to play this role.