Russia continued its official criticism of Armenia’s decision to host joint military exercises with the United States.
The drills, known as the Eagle Partner 2023 exercises, are scheduled to take place from September 11 to 20 and, according to Pentagon sources, will reportedly involve 85 U.S. and 175 Armenian soldiers.
“Holding such exercises in the current situation does not contribute to the strengthening of stability and the atmosphere of trust in the region,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
The planned drills were also criticized by three Russian deputy foreign ministers, Azatutyun.am reported on Thursday.
One of them, Mikhail Galuzin, claimed that the drills are part of NATO’s efforts to lure Russia’s former Soviet neighbors into its “vicious zone of influence.”
“It is natural that we draw the attention of our partners to the fact that rapprochement with NATO would hardly have any positive results in terms of ensuring their own security,” Galuzin told the Russia’s official TASS news agency. “I am sure that the Armenian people, the Armenian public understand everything very well and will draw the right conclusions corresponding to Armenia’s long-term security.”
Another deputy minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Armenia should instead participate in joint exercises with Russia and other allies making up the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Early this year, Yerevan cancelled a CSTO exercise which it was due to host this fall, underscoring its unhappiness with what Armenian leaders see as a lack of Russian and CSTO support for Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan.
Tensions between Russia and Armenia escalated this week when Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, slammed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who called into question Armenia’s decades-long strategic reliance on Russia, calling it a “wrong calculation” by Yerevan.
Pashinyan also criticized the Russian peacekeeping forces for not fulfilling their obligations and allowing Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh to continue and result in a humanitarian crisis.
Moscow suggested that Pashinyan’s vocal recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over Artsakh has complicated efforts on the ground and blamed the Armenian leader for the blockade.
Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian scoffed at Moscow’s statements and the rift between Armenia and Russia.
“We always have differences with all partners,” Hovannisian told journalists on Thursday. “This doesn’t mean that they can be construed as tensions.”
“We are constantly conducting trainings and working with our partners to ensure readiness and continuously improve interoperability between our armed forces, the United States’ embassy in Armenia said in response to an inquiry by Azatutyun.am’s Armenian Service.
To a question about whether there have been other such joint U.S.-Armenia military drills in the past, the embassy pointed to Armenia’s decades-long partnership with the Kansas National Guiard.
“Armenia is a long-standing partner of the United States and has had strong partnership relations with the Kansas National Guard since 2003 within the framework of the State Partnership Program of the US Department of Defense. American and Armenian military units have participated in joint military exercises in Armenia, the United States, and other countries. Moreover, such exercises were held in Armenia in 2003, 2006, and 2008,” added the U.S. embassy.
