Thursday, September 9, 2021
Armenian Troops Join Russian-Belarusian War Games
Russia - Armenian soldiers (left) march at the Mulino training center during the
opening ceremony of the Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2021 military exercises,
September 9, 2021.
Armenian soldiers participated on Thursday in the opening ceremony of vast joint
military exercises conducted by Russia and Belarus amid concerns voiced by NATO.
The main part of the weeklong “Zapad-2021” (“West-2021”) exercises will start on
Friday at more than a dozen training grounds in the two states. According to the
Russian Defense Ministry, they will involve up to 200,000 military personnel,
apparently making them the biggest war games in Europe in decades.
The bulk of the participating troops are from Russia and Belarus. The others
were sent by three other members of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty
Organization -- Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan -- as well as India and
Mongolia.
Photographs released by Armenia’s Defense Ministry showed around 80 Armenian
soldiers marching during the opening ceremony held at the Russian military’s
Mulino training center about 360 kilometers east of Moscow.
The ministry said late last week that its troops will take part in the drills in
line with a Russian-Armenian plan of joint military activities in 2021. It did
not specify their number.
Armenia moved to deepen its already close military ties with Russia shortly
after the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh stopped by a Russian-brokered
ceasefire last November.
Defense Minister Arshak Karapetian visited Russia for at least three times this
summer. His Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu reportedly assured him on August
11 that Moscow will continue to help Armenia reform and modernize its armed
forces.
RUSSIA -- Servicemen from India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and
Russia pose for pictures during opening ceremony of the Zapad-2021 (West-2021)
joint Russian-Belarusian drills on the Mulino training ground, September 9, 2021.
The Zapad-2021 drills are based on a scenario where Russia and Belarus are under
attack. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov insisted on Thursday that
they are purely defensive in nature.
Tensions have run high in recent months on Belarus’s borders with NATO members
Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Western officials say Minsk has been pushing
illegal migrants into those countries to put pressure on the European Union in
response to EU sanctions imposed on authoritarian President Alexander
Lukashenko’s regime.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia last week to be open about
the upcoming drills and the troop numbers involved. A NATO spokeswoman said, for
her part, that the U.S.-led alliance was not invited to observe them in breach
of an international agreement governing military exercises in Europe.
Grief-Stricken Armenians Resent Lavish Celebration Planned By Government
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - A man prays at one of the fresh graves of Armenian soldiers killed in
the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and buried in the Yerablur military pantheon in
Yerevan, January 28, 2021.
Families of Armenian soldiers killed in last year’s war with Azerbaijan have
expressed outrage at a “large-scale and colorful” celebration of Armenia’s
upcoming Independence Day promised by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Pashinian announced on Wednesday that such festivities will be held in Yerevan’s
central Republic Square on September 21 to mark the 30th anniversary of the
country’s declaration of independence from the disintegrating Soviet Union.
“That will be first and foremost dedicated to our martyrs who sacrificed their
lives for Armenia’s independence, security and sovereignty,” he said during a
cabinet meeting.
The announcement appears to have angered many relatives of the Armenian victims
of the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh that broke out almost one year ago.
Some of them took to social media to condemn it and even threaten to disrupt the
planned event. They said that any pompous celebrations would be highly
inappropriate in a country which is still mourning the war dead and has not yet
found, identified and buried all of its fallen soldiers.
Armenia -- A woman pays respects to a victim of the war over Karabakh, during a
gathering for a memorial ceremony, at the Yerablur Military Memorial Cemetery in
Yerevan, on December 19, 2020.
According to official figures, about 3,800 Armenian soldiers were killed and
more than 200 others went missing or were taken prisoner during the hostilities
stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November. Karabakh Armenian search
teams still recover, on a virtually daily basis, soldiers’ remains from former
battlefields now controlled by Azerbaijani forces.
Some opposition politicians and public figures added their voice to the uproar,
demanding that the government scale down the Independence Day events.
Most people randomly interviewed by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in the streets of
Yerevan also favored a muted celebration of the key national holiday.
Armenia -- Members of Armenian security services use ballistic folding shields
as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visits Yerablur Military Pantheon cemetery on
the day of nationwide mourning for those killed in a military conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh in December 19, 2020.
“The independence holiday must be marked but not ‘colorfully,’” said one man.
“What does marking it ‘colorfully’ in memory of the dead mean? What is it?”
“It should be marked but not in the way presented [by Pashinian,]” said a woman.
“I think that in these circumstances we have no right to celebrate any holiday,”
opined another Yerevan resident.
The government has not yet reacted to the criticism. It has already contracted a
private company to stage the festivities at Republic Square.
The company’s founder, Ashot Arakelian, gave few details of the planned event
when he spoke with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday. He said only that it
will feature classical music.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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