Armenia and the U.S. began holding joint army drills close to the capital Yerevan on Monday, angering Russia.
The “Eagle Partner” warfare video games will run by Sept. 20 and contain 175 Armenian and 85 troops. They replicate Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s efforts to forge nearer ties with the United States and different Western allies amid the simmering tensions with neighboring Azerbaijan.
The Armenian Defense Ministry stated that the drills are geared toward rising interoperability of models taking part in worldwide peacekeeping missions and exchanging tactical expertise.
Moscow has reacted with dismay. On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Armenian ambassador to lodge a proper protest over the workout routines and different strikes by Armenia that it described as “unfriendly.”
Russia has been Armenia’s essential financial accomplice and ally for the reason that 1991 Soviet collapse. Landlocked Armenia hosts a Russian army base and is a part of the Moscow-led safety alliance of ex-Soviet nations, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
But Pashinyan has turn into more and more crucial of Moscow’s position, emphasizing its failure to assist elevate the blockade of, a breakaway Armenian-populated area of Azerbaijan and arguing that Armenia wants to show to the West to assist guarantee its safety.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a area inside Azerbaijan that got here underneath the management of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian army after a six-year separatist warfare that led to 1994. Armenian forces additionally took management of considerable territory across the area.
Azerbaijan regained management of the encircling territory and a big a part of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week warfare with Armenia in 2020. A Russia-brokered truce that ended the warfare left the area related to Armenia by only one highway generally known as the Lachin Corridor, alongside which had been supposed to make sure free motion.
Since December, Azerbaijan has blockaded that highway, severely proscribing the supply of meals, medical provides and different necessities to the area of about 120,000 folks.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the Armenian authorities’ claims that Moscow wasn’t doing sufficient to guard its ally and famous that Armenia’s resolution to carry joint warfare video games with the U.S. requires a “deep analysis.”
At the identical time, Peskov sought to minimize the variations between Russia and Armenia, saying that “we will remain close allies and partners.”
“We may have certain problems that need to be solved through dialogue, because the logic of our development and national interests of both countries determine the necessity to further deepen our alliance and partnership,” he stated.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
