The United States will appoint a resident adviser to Armenia’s Defense Ministry as part of deepening ties between the two nations, a senior U.S. official confirmed in an interview published late on Wednesday.
“It’s a welcome development that I would encourage you to follow up with our ambassador and press team,” Uzra Zeya, the U.S. under secretary of state for democracy and human rights, told Hetq.am at the end of a four-day visit to Armenia.
“We welcome deepening defense and civilian security cooperation between the U.S. and Armenia,” she said. “This is part of the spirit embodied in the historic upgrade of U.S.-Armenia relations to strategic partnership.”
The U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Kristina Kvien, revealed the impending appointment when she spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in April. The U.S. military adviser, she said, will “come and sit with Armenia’s Ministry of Defense to help build capacity, particularly because Armenia is interested in expanding its participation in things like peacekeeping and other peaceful endeavors.”
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“So we’re going to work with them on both reforming internally, how to get your Ministry of Defense up to modern standards, and then also how to do more in the peacekeeping area,” added Kvien.
It is not clear whether the U.S. officer will also advise the Armenian military on how to defend the South Caucasus country against foreign aggression or deal with possible U.S. arms supplies to it. RFE/RL’s Armenian Service asked the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan for further comment on Thursday.
So far Washington has mainly provided military aid to the Armenian army’s peacekeeping brigade that contributes troops to NATO-led multinational missions abroad.
Armenia underlined its growing military cooperation with the U.S. by hosting another joint U.S.-Armenian exercise that began on Monday. Defense Minister Suren Papikian and Kvien spoke during the opening ceremony of the Eagle Partner 2024 exercise designed to improve the interoperability of U.S. and Armenian soldiers participating in peacekeeping operations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry again denounced the drills on Thursday, saying that they will deal another blow to Russian-Armenian military ties. The ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, warned that Armenia is thus putting its national security at greater risk.
“The results of the so-called ‘eagle partnership’ are well known: they first use [ex-Soviet states at odds with Russia] and then dump them for lack of need,” Zakharova scoffed at a news briefing.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has frozen Armenia’s membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and said that it will eventually leave the Russian-led military alliance altogether.
Speaking to Hetq.am, Zeya noted that the CSTO membership has not prevented Yerevan from forging closer defense links with Washington. But the U.S. official also said: “The United States sees nothing to indicate that Russia’s military presence contributes to a more peaceful and stable South Caucasus region.”
