Russia criticized on Friday Armenia’s decision to host another joint military exercise with the United States, saying that it will deal a further blow to Russian-Armenian security ties.
“They [the upcoming drills] cause nothing but regret, especially against the background of Yerevan’s virtual freezing of its activities in the [Collective Security Treaty Organization] and public attacks against this organization,” said Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. “Whatever peaceful, peacekeeping goals the Westerners declare, their main objective is obviously to create a bridgehead for the implementation of their own geopolitical projects.”
Those projects, Zakharova told a news briefing, are aimed at driving Russia as well as Iran out of the region. The resulting “reformatting of the entire security system of Armenia” will also give the West “additional leverage” against Yerevan, she said.
“Russia has always been and remains committed to its allied obligations, including on ensuring the security of Armenia,” added Zakharova. “It has sought to find mutually acceptable solutions. However, such steps by Yerevan, which are becoming systemic, undermine prospects for the functioning of established mechanisms of interaction in this area.”
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The Eagle Partner 2024 exercise scheduled for July 15-24 will involve soldiers of an Armenian peacekeeping brigade, U.S. Army Europe and Africa and the Kansas National Guard. According to the Armenian Ministry, they will practice taking “stabilization actions” during a joint peacekeeping operation in an imaginary conflict zone.
Eighty-five U.S. and 175 Armenian soldiers held similar drills at two training grounds outside Yerevan last September. Russia and Iran criticized them.
Russian-Armenian relations have deteriorated further since then, with Yerevan accusing Moscow of not honoring its security commitments to Armenia. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian suspended his country’s its membership in the CSTO and pledged to eventually pull it out of the Russian-led military alliance. Pashinian’s administration has also signaled plans to seek Armenia’s membership in the European Union.
On Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin warned that Yerevan’s ongoing reorientation towards “those whose goal is the ‘strategic defeat’ of Russia” is only creating additional security risks for Armenia.
“I think knowledgeable specialists and politicians in Armenia understand the possible costs of such imprudent steps,” he said.
