While Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan spoke with the top Georgian leadership, his namesake and at the same time, Defence Minister Vigen Sargsyan discussed military cooperation of the two countries with his Georgian counterpart Levan Izoria. They spoke without interpreters – in Russian, but behind the closed door. Journalists had to content themselves with the report of the press service of the Georgian Defence Ministry.
In particular, the sides discussed the participation of Armenian soldiers in annual multinational drills that are held in Georgia under the NATO aegis. Yerevan held a dual position this year: At the beginning of August, it dispatched its soldiers to the Noble Partner drills in Tbilisi, but then unexpectedly defused to participate in similar manoeuvres – Agile Spirit – held at the beginning of September.
Now, three months after the regrettable incident, Levan Izoria expressed hope that Armenian soldiers would be trained side by side with Georgian and NATO soldiers in the coming year, 2018. Before that, they can improve their combat skills in the mountain training school in Sachkhere.
For his part, Sargsyan thanked his Georgian counterpart for the proposal, but it is clear that he did not agree immediately. The Armenian delegation was going to Moscow from Tbilisi and it would have been incautious to give any promises in the current situation. Russia is Armenia's chief partner and the leadership of the country cannot afford not to take its opinion into account.
At the same time, Yerevan is nevertheless gradually developing cooperation with the West in general and NATO in particular. Therefore, Armenian pundit Ruben Mehrabyan is sure that both South Caucasus countries can find points of contact on these issues:
"Incidentally, this was discussed also during the visit of NATO Deputy Secretary General [Rose Gottemoeller] to Armenia. Armenia should definitely diversify its security policy. In this sense, relations with Georgia are of strategic importance for Armenia not only in the bilateral, but also the Euro-Atlantic context. Therefore, I think that 2018 is going to be much more fruitful than 2017."
Georgian military expert Vakhtang Maisaia also said that Georgia and Armenia have sufficient common interests in the military sphere.
"First, this is participation in peacekeeping operations under the UN aegis and the NATO aegis. You know that the Armenian Armed Forces are participating also in the peacekeeping mission) in Afghanistan, i.e. they are also taking part in such kinds of operations. There are also special trainings within the frames of the Partnership for Peace [Programme]. There are crisis management operations and counterterrorist efforts. This is a common platform for relations. Thus, although we are positioned on various geopolitical poles, there are a lot of points of contact and mutually linked spheres, where it is possible to cooperate also in the field of military policy."
At the same time, Ruben Mehrabyan stressed that Yerevan should observe its national interests without regard the desires and geopolitical priorities of the northern neighbour [Russia].
"I think it is counterproductive and detrimental to Armenia's interests and the interests of Armenian-Georgian relations to hew to Moscow's moods and whims."
According to Mehrabyan, it is necessary to behave similar to natural phenomena in relations with Moscow – like "heat" and "cold". In other words, it is necessary to take the factor into account, but at the same time, try "not to freeze in winter and get burned in summer".