The Kremlin has been left furious after Armenia, formerly a Russian ally, announced a massive joint military exercise with the US in a humiliating blow for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The “Eagle Partner” war games are set to run through September 20 and will involve 175 Armenian and 85 American troops.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has erupted in fury and summoned its Armenian ambassador to lodge a formal protest over the exercises.
It also blasted a series of other Armenian moves as unfriendly, despite Russia being the Caucasus nation's main ally.
In fact, Russia has been Armenia’s main economic partner and ally since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Landlocked Armenia even hosts a Russian military base and is a member of the Moscow-led security alliance of ex-Soviet nations, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
But now, the country appears to be aligning more closely with the West and has stood with Ukraine amid the illegal Russian invasion.
Armenia has even signed off on what Russia has called the “transfer of humanitarian aid to Kyiv’s Nazi regime.”
Last week, it announced that it would provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine as Moscow ramps up its brutal campaign by striking infrastructure and civilian targets.
In a major blow for the Kremlin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: “We are not Russia’s ally in the war with Ukraine. And our feeling from that war, from that conflict, is anxiety because it directly affects all our relationships.”
His wife even recently made an official visit to the country in a rare show of force against Moscow.
Pashinyan has been scrambling to strike closer ties with the US other Western partners as tensions with neighboring Azerbaijan boil over.
The Armenian leader has hit out at Moscow for failing to help lift the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway Armenian-populated province of Azerbaijan.
Now, he says Armenia needs to turn to the West to help for its security.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a region within Azerbaijan that came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military after a six-year separatist war that ended in 1994.
Armenian forces also took control of substantial territory around the region.
Aid organizations say they cannot deliver supplies of food and fuel and have raised the alarm over a humanitarian crisis that is unfolding.
Azerbaijan denies the claims, insisting local Armenians must lay down their weapons and submit to being governed as part of the country.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1811781/vladimir-putin-armenia-war-games-us-eagle-partner