Paris-Yerevan. France’s military transit through the territory of Georgia is fully regulated

“I am happy to record that the Armenian-French relations, which are based on these common values, have risen to an unprecedented level in recent years, have acquired a new quality and strategic direction.

Today, the strategic partnership established between Armenia and France is steadily developing in all key areas, from political dialogue and defense to economy, investments, infrastructure, energy, education, science, culture and decentralized cooperation,” said the congratulatory letter of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to French President Macron on the occasion of the National Day of France on July 14.

And on July 20, Defense Minister Suren Papikyan published a video of exercises using the French 155-millimeter “Caesar” self-propelled artillery system, which was named “Aramazd” in Armenia. In the video posted on the Telegram messenger, the commander of the artillery calculation tells about his service and duties.

Thus, France’s comprehensive partnership with Armenia, including: in the military field, about which informed our periodical received another approval and is consistently developing with the involvement of Georgia (at least in transit). Paris is no longer just a political ally of Yerevan. it has turned into one of the main external allies of Nikol Pashinyan’s government, which is shown not only on a symbolic level, but also on a very practical level.

In 2023, the first batch of ACMAT Bastion armored vehicles was delivered to the territory of Georgia. At the end of October of the same year, the then French Minister of Defense Sebastien Lecorne announced that Paris intends to sell three Ground Master 200 (GM200) radar systems to Armenia, as well as the planned signing of a memorandum of intent with missile systems manufacturer MBDA regarding the Mistral ARPR.

In this regard, despite the possible bias, the exclusive information obtained from military and intelligence sources of the TV channel AnewZ in Baku is noteworthy. the data which are not officially denied either in Yerevan, Tbilisi or Paris.  Thus, according to ADS-B flight tracking data, already on May 4, the large-scale French military transport Airbus A330-200 (board identifier F-UJCS) of the French Aerospace Forces arrived in Yerevan for the first time, during Macron’s stay there. The next day, this plane “officially” returned to Paris, from where it went a few hours later to a major air force base in southern France, Istre-le-Teube, near Marseille.

The same F-UJCS flight (call sign CTM021) was previously spotted on the flight tracker associated with Macron’s East Asia tour: on March 28, it was heading east from Europe, and on March 29, April 2 and 3, it was recorded in the region of South Korea and Japan.

Just these days, on April 1 in Japan and April 3 in South Korea, Macron signed documents on the deepening of French defense cooperation with Tokyo and Seoul, which corresponds to the official Paris system line on strengthening the military and political presence of France in the Asia-Pacific region, especially since France’s extensive island departments are located here, the partial circulation of the Pacific Franc is maintained.

On May 11, this French military heavy transport vehicle, number CTM2025, was registered east of a southern French military base, heading for the Southern Transcaucasia. According to information reviewed by AnewZ, the cargo officially declared for transit through Georgia to Armenia included gas cylinders, lithium batteries and chemicals.

But did the actual cargo match the declaration? Or were the components, hubs and auxiliary equipment of modern long-range French Caesar howitzers already supplied to Armenia transported under the “guise” of the above-mentioned and other “civilian” cargoes?

We remind you that the transportation of weapons and military components by civil and military aircraft is strictly regulated by the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944 and the ICAO rules on the transportation of dangerous goods (Annex 17 – “aviation security” annexes).

Such shipments require export licenses, import permits, approval of transit through third countries, special packaging, labeling and strict controls. Probably, the mentioned has been observed, or at least the corresponding transit through the territory of Georgia has been agreed with the corresponding payment.

The situation became even more vivid after the appearance of television footage from Yerevan on the eve of the military parade dedicated to the Day of the Republic of Armenia on May 28, with those Caesar howitzers. The contract for the supply of 36 such systems was signed in June 2024 in Paris. Now these systems are publicly displayed on the territory of Armenia as a vivid proof of military-technical “diversification”.

So far, there are no grounds to assume that the transit of French military equipment through the territory of Georgia to Armenia has been stopped. Even more so, in the last congratulatory message addressed to Macron by the Prime Minister of Armenia on the Bastille Day announced about the unprecedented level of bilateral relations… “Relations have reached an unprecedented level in recent years, gaining new quality and strategic content.

Today, the strategic partnership formed between Armenia and France is confidently developing in all key directions, from political dialogue and defense to economy, investments, infrastructure, energy, education, science, culture and decentralized cooperation.”

It should also be recalled that in the Indian Ocean basin, in the area of ​​several French island departments and military bases, the French Ministry of Defense under leadership the recent joint military command about the creation in which member countries of the “Indian Ocean Commission” created by Paris in the first half of the 1980s are involved.

Accordingly, military supplies to Armenia and, in general, the current interconnection with Yerevan are a constituent link of the modern geopolitical strategy of the French authorities.

Alexey Baliev

vpoanalytics.com

Translation by GM

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