Friday,
French Defense Chief Visits Armenia Amid Deepening Ties
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu (left) speaks at a joint
news conference with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikian, Yerevan, February
23, 2024.
France will provide more weapons and other military assistance to Armenia to
help the South Caucasus country defend its territory, French Defense Minister
Sebastien Lecornu said during a first-ever visit to Yerevan on Friday.
“Threats hanging over Armenia force us to move forward faster,” he told Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian. “It is very important for us to react and take
necessary steps quickly.”
Speaking after talks with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikian held earlier
in the day, Lecornu confirmed that Armenia took delivery the previous night of
the first batch of French night-vision devices commissioned by it last year. The
Armenian military will also receive soon air-defense radar systems and more
armored personnel carriers from French manufacturers, he said.
The French defense group Thales signed with the Armenian Defense Ministry a
contract for the supply of three GM200 radars during Papikian’s visit to Paris
last October. Papikian and Lecornu signed at the time a “letter of intent” on
Armenia’s future acquisition of short-range surface-to-air missiles manufactured
by another French company.
Lecornu indicated that the supply of the Mistral air-defense systems is a matter
of time. What is more, he expressed France’s readiness to also sell more
long-range systems to Armenia. He further announced that a French military
adviser specializing in air defense will be deployed in Armenia to help it
neutralize “possible strikes by potential aggressors.”
Armenia - Armenian and French flags fly outside the Defense Ministry building in
Yerevan, .
“Nobody can reproach the Armenian army for boosting its defense capacity,”
Lecornu told a joint news conference with Papikian, clearly alluding to
Azerbaijan’s strong criticism of French-Armenian military cooperation.
The Armenian minister emphasized, for his part, that Yerevan is acquiring these
and other weapons for solely defensive purposes. In an apparent reference to
Azerbaijan, he spoke of a “visible threat” to Armenia’s territorial integrity.
Neither minister shed light on a number of documents that were signed by them
after their talks. The AFP news agency reported that the Armenian side also
signed on Friday a supply contract with the French company PGM manufacturing
sniper rifles. It said no details of the deal were made public.
The defense cooperation is part of a broader deepening of French-Armenian
relations cemented by the existence of an influential Armenian community in
France. It comes amid Armenia’s mounting tensions with Russia, its longtime
ally. Neighboring Iran has also signaled unease over the pro-Western tilt in
Armenian foreign policy.
“Our Iranian partners respect our cooperation with other partners, and I think
our Russian and other partners should do the same because Armenia has no taboos
when it comes to cooperation to the benefit of Armenia,” Papikian said in this
regard.
Armenia is “turning to partners that are truly providers of security,” Lecornu
said when asked to comment on the tensions between Yerevan and Moscow.
Armenian Security Service Denies Russian Obstruction Of EU Mission
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- The main entrance to the National Security Service headquarters in
Yerevan.
The National Security Service (NSS) denied on Friday claims that Russian border
guards prevent European Union monitors from inspecting a section of Armenia’s
border with Azerbaijan where four Armenian soldiers were killed last week.
They died when their positions around Nerkin Hand, a village in the southeastern
Syunik province, came under cross-border fire early on February 13.
The head of the EU monitoring mission, Markus Ritter, said on Wednesday that the
Russian side did not allow its members to visit Nerkin Hand both before and
after the incident. Armen Grigorian, the pro-Western secretary of Armenia’s
Security Council, echoed the claim, saying that Yerevan “will try to address the
problem.”
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service asked the NSS to clarify whether the EU monitors
indeed have no access to border sections where Russian border guards and
military personnel are deployed.
“There are no obstacles to the observation activities of representatives of the
EU mission at the sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border guarded by the
border guard troops of the NSS,” the security agency said in a written reply.
“The purpose of the deployment of Russian border guards on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border is to monitor and take measures aimed at resolving
possible conflicts peacefully,” added the statement.
Grigorian also blamed the Russians for Azerbaijan’s deadly ceasefire violation.
“Russia is present there and it failed to prevent the incident,” he said.
Narek Ghahramanian, a Syunik-based parliamentarian representing Armenia’s ruling
Civil Contract party, insisted on Thursday that “there is no Russian presence”
in or around Nerkin Hand. There is only a Russian checkpoint on a road leading
to Nerkin Hand, Ghahramanian said, adding that he has never had trouble visiting
the remote village.
Russia deployed troops to Syunik during and shortly after the 2020 war in
Nagorno-Karabakh to help the Armenian military defend the strategic region
against possible Azerbaijani attacks. Russian-Armenian relations have
significantly deteriorated since then, with Yerevan accusing Moscow of not
honoring its security commitments to Armenia.
Pashinian Again Warns Of Azeri Attack On Armenia
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Germany - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosts talks between Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, February 18,
2024.
Just days after his latest talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian has accused Azerbaijan of planning military aggression
against Armenia.
“Analyzing … statements made from official Baku, we come to the conclusion that
yes, an attack on Armenia is very likely,” he told the France 24 TV channel in
an interview broadcast on Friday.
Pashinian complained that the Azerbaijani leadership is still reluctant to
recognize Armenia’s border “without ambiguity” and continues to refer to much of
Armenian territory as “Western Azerbaijan.” He said Baku is not honoring
understandings on the key parameters of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty
reached by him and Aliyev during their meetings in 2022 and 2023 mediated by the
European Union.
Speaking on February 18, one day after meeting with Aliyev in Munich, Pashinian
stated that both sides are “committed to those understandings.” Both leaders
sounded satisfied with the talks hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The
latter said they “agreed to resolve open issues without new violence.”
It was also agreed that the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers will meet
soon for further discussions on the peace treaty. A senior Armenian official
said on Thursday that the two sides continue to disagree on key provisions of
the would-be treaty.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected Pashinian’s latest claims. It said
they are “absolutely baseless” and aimed at misleading the international
community.
Pashinian already charged on February 15 that Azerbaijan is pursuing a “policy
of military coercion” in an effort to clinch more Armenian territory and other
concessions from Yerevan. He said it may be planning to launch “military
operations at some sections of the border with the prospect of turning the
military escalation into a full-scale war against Armenia.”
The premier went on to reject Azerbaijani demands for major legislative changes
in Armenia, saying that they constitute a violation of his country’s sovereignty
and interference in its internal affairs. Pashinian himself called last month
for the adoption of a new Armenian constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical
environment” in the region. His critics say that he did so under Azerbaijani
pressure.
Armenia’s Membership In Russian-Led Defense Bloc ‘Frozen’
France - French President Emmanuel Macron meets Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian at the Elysee Palace in Paris, February 21, 2024.
Armenia has essentially frozen its membership in the Russian-led Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in a
televised interview publicized on Friday.
“In our view, the CSTO has not fulfilled -- in 2021 and 2022 in particular --
its security obligations to Armenia, and we could not have let that go without
consequences,” Pashinian told the France 24 TV channel. “As a consequence, we
have, in effect, frozen our participation in the CSTO. We’ll see what happens
tomorrow.”
Armenia officially requested military intervention from Russia and other CSTO
allies after Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations launched along the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022. It has since repeatedly accused
them of ignoring the request in breach of the CSTO’s statutes and declared
mission. It has declined CSTO offers to provide “military-technical assistance”
to Yerevan and deploy a monitoring mission to the border.
Last year, Pashinian’s government not only shunned various-level CSTO meetings
but also cancelled a CSTO exercise in Armenia, refused to name an Armenian
deputy head of the organization and recalled the Armenian representative to its
Moscow headquarters.
Moscow reacted cautiously to Pashinian’s latest remarks, with Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov saying that it expects Yerevan to clarify them. Peskov also noted
that the Armenian side has not notified the CSTO about the suspensions of its
membership in the organization.
Belarus - Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a CSTO summit in Minsk,
November 23, 2023.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested in December that Armenia is not
planning to leave the CSTO and attributed Yerevan’s boycott of the organization
to internal “processes” taking place in the country. By contrast, the Russian
Foreign Ministry earlier accused Pashinian of systematically “destroying”
Russian-Armenian relations.
Pashinian, who was apparently interviewed by the French broadcaster during a
visit to Paris on Wednesday, also claimed that in the wake of Azerbaijan’s
recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh last September “Russia’s most high-ranking
representatives” encouraged Armenians to take to the streets and topple him.
Moscow did not immediately respond to the claim.
Pashinian also hit out at out Russia when he visited Germany at the weekend to
attend an annual security conference in Munich. He met with German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British intelligence
chief Richard Moore on the sidelines of the forum.
The Armenian premier’s latest criticism of Russia highlights a deepening rift
between the two longtime allies. He has so far stopped short of announcing plans
to pull Armenia out of the CSTO and demand the withdrawal Russian troops from
the country.
Pashinian and his political allies say that they are “diversifying” Armenia’s
foreign and security policy due to the lack of Russian support. Their political
opponents regard the policy change as reckless, arguing that the West is not
ready to give Yerevan any security guarantees or provide it with significant
military aid.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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