Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, to respond to military cooperation between the European Union and Yerevan.

"Azerbaijan is a reliable partner of the EU and its member states. However, double standards and unfair approaches toward our country do not contribute to the establishment of sustainable peace in our region," Bayramov said, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).

Bayramov also noted that some EU member states provide military aid to Yerevan under different names.

"The efforts of these states, which distract Armenia from the peace process, harm the establishment of peace in the South Caucasus," Bayramov said. 

Armenia's defense strategy cannot rely on Russia as it used to, and Yerevan needs to more closely examine security relations with the U.S., France, India, and other countries, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Feb. 1, the Armenpress news agency reported.

The prime minister has previously said that Moscow has not proven to be a reliable security partner, as Russian "peacekeepers" failed to prevent Azerbaijan's offensive into the Nagorno-Karabakh region last September.

Baku formally dissolved the unrecognized ethnic Armenian republic in Nagorno-Karabakh on Jan. 1. Over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region.

"Previously, 95-97% of our defense sector relations were with the Russian Federation. Now, it cannot be the same, for both objective and subjective reasons," Pashinyan told Armenian Public Radio when discussing Armenia's military reforms.

Yerevan should reassess the concept of its defense strategy and consider what role countries like the U.S., France, India, Iran, or Georgia play in it, the prime minister said.

The country must also decide whether to remain a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), he added.

As the rift between Armenia and Russia widens, Yerevan has been looking further west for allies, securing military aid from France.

Armenia also refused to participate in a CSTO summit in Minsk on Nov. 23, 2023, attracting criticism from Belarusian and Russian leaders.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova criticized Yerevan's overtures to the West, warning Pashinyan against "trying to sit on two chairs."

On 1 February, Armenia officially became the 124th state that joined the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), granting it the authority to arrest Russian leader Vladimir Putin on its territory.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted at a diplomatic conference in Romis, is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court. As of 2024, 124 states have ratified the Rome Statute, which empowers the ICC to exercise its functions and jurisdiction on the territory of any state party.

Under the jurisdiction of the ICC, its members investigate the most serious crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crimes of aggression.

Armenia’s decision to ratify the Rome Statute suggests a significant diplomatic shift as the country takes steps to distance itself from Russia.

Among other steps by Armenia, which indicate its plans to strengthen ties with the West, are conducting joint military exercises with the US and a visit of the wife of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Kyiv with a humanitarian assistance mission. Pashinyan himself met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the third European Political Community Summit in Spain.

On 17 March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, alleging they are guilty of the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

Despite the ratification of the Rome Statute, some of the deputies of the Armenian Parliament are opposed to the arrest of Putin.  In October 2023, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Hakob Arshakyan said that Armenia would not arrest the Russian leader even after the approval of the Rome Statute by the country’s parliament, as this would lead to a deterioration in relations between Armenia and Russia.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Edward Markey (D-MA), and six Senate colleagues introduced a resolution to require that the U.S. Secretary of State provide a report on Azerbaijan’s human rights practices, including concerning allegations of human rights violations committed against ethnic Armenians, such as unlawful killings, torture, restrictions on freedom of movement, the illegal detention of political prisoners, and ethnic cleansing.

“Azerbaijan has already been bulldozing holy sites and starving Armenian communities. This is the type of country the Biden administration wants supplying LNG to Europe instead of Louisiana natural gas?” said Dr. Cassidy.

“The need to hold Azerbaijan’s government accountable and forge a peaceful path forward is long overdue,” said Senator Markey. “Military action has never been the solution to peace and stability in Nagorno-Karabakh. This resolution puts pressure on Azerbaijan’s government to uphold human rights and stop committing crimes against ethnic Armenians in the region. We must protect the will, the rights, and the bedrock freedoms of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”  

Since Azerbaijan’s large-scale military offensive on September 19, 2023, against the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians have fled to Armenia in fear of further persecution. Before the attack, Azerbaijani forces blockaded the Lachin corridor, the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world, to prevent imports of essential goods, humanitarian convoys, and all passages of food, fuel, and medicine from the Red Cross to the ethnic Armenians that lived in the territory.  

Cassidy and Markey were joined by U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Peter Welch (D-VT), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

The resolution would require the State Department to produce a report that includes: 

• A description of all steps the State Department has taken to promote the protection of human rights by the Azerbaijan government, including any steps taken to discourage practices that are inimical to the protection of human rights and to publicly or privately call attention or disassociate the U.S. and its security assistance to any Azerbaijani violations of human rights;
• An assessment of whether any extraordinary measures exist that necessitate the continuation of security assistance to Azerbaijan and, if such circumstances do exist, the extent to which assistance should be continued;
• An assessment on the likelihood that U.S assistance has or will be used in support of Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, or in relation to the conflict with Armenia;
• A description of U.S. government efforts to adhere to section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prevents U.S. assistance to any security unit against credible allegations of human rights violations; and
• A determination of whether Azerbaijani officials found responsible in human rights abuses have met the criteria for sanctions and a description of any action the U.S. government is taking to implement sanctions under the Globa Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. 

The resolution is endorsed by Freedom House, Human Rights Foundation (HRF), the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), National Council of Churches (NCC), the Arms Control Association (ACA), Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), Center for International Policy (CIP), Peace Action, Common Defense, Action Corps, Foreign Policy for America (FP4A), Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), National Iranian American Council (NIAC) Action, Women for Weapons Trade Transparency, Church of the Brethren Office of Peacebuilding & Policy, Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), In Defense of Christians (IDC), American Friends of Kurdistan (AFK), and the Anglican Office for Government & International Affairs. 

“This resolution marks an important step toward Congress reclaiming its long-neglected civilian protection oversight responsibilities when it comes to U.S. arms transfers and military aid.  In Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor and subsequent armed attacks brought about a humanitarian crisis for tens of thousands of civilians as well as mass displacement. Congress is right to invoke Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act to ask serious questions about Azerbaijan’s human rights and civilian protection record and the impact of US arms transfers,” said Annie Shiel at U.S. Advocacy Director of Center for Civilians in Conflict. 

“Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s entire indigenous Armenian population last year was a modern-day genocide the U.S. had every opportunity to prevent – but instead enabled through the reckless provision of military assistance to Baku’s authoritarian regime. The ANCA joins with coalition partners in welcoming Senator Markey’s leadership in restoring much-needed Congressional oversight of U.S. military assistance through the enforcement of Section 502B(c) – an underutilized statute that can help reassert human rights to its rightful place at the center of U.S. foreign policy,” said Aram Hamparian at Executive Director of Armenian National Committee of America. 

“The Human Rights Foundation supports the U.S. Senate resolution requesting the U.S. Secretary of State to produce a comprehensive report scrutinizing the dictatorial regime of Azerbaijan’s dismal human rights record.  For three decades, the Aliyev dynastic dictatorship has systematically rigged elections and committed gross human rights violations, including the persecution and wrongful imprisonment of opposition figures and journalists, as well as the torture and extrajudicial killing of Armenian POWs and civilian detainees in the context of the armed conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. It’s long overdue that the United States reassess its military assistance to the Aliyev regime,” said Javier El-Hage at Chief Legal and Policy Officer of Human Rights Foundation. 

“CIP applauds Senator Markey and his colleagues for seeking accountability for U.S. arms sales to Azerbaijan, whose government has an abysmal record of human right violations, including a military campaign resulting in the forced displacement of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh. The U.S. government must take the enforcement of its own arms laws and our security partners’ obligations under international humanitarian law seriously in order to achieve President Biden’s own stated goal of upholding human rights and a rules-based order in our foreign policy,” said Nancy Okail at President and CEO of Center for International Policy. 

“Women for Weapons Trade Transparency urges Congress to invoke section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act via this resolution in light of Azerbaijan’s dismal record of human rights violations and war crimes. Congress must utilize their oversight powers to prevent U.S. assistance from being used in such violations and to ensure that U.S. weapons and funding are not hindering freedom of _expression_, threatening the operations of independent media, or aiding in arbitrary arrests and politically motivated prosecution,” said Lillian Mauldin at Board Member of Women for Weapons Trade Transparency. 

“This resolution is an important effort to uphold U.S. laws requiring an end to military aid to abusive governments like Azerbaijan. It’s imperative that our government consistently and comprehensively enforce its own laws to all recipients of U.S. military aid,” said Sarah Leah Whitson at Executive Director of Democracy for the Arab World Now.        

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Armenia can no longer rely on Russia as its main defence and military partner because Moscow has repeatedly let it down so Yerevan must think about forging closer ties with the United States and France, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

Armenia, a tiny former Soviet republic bordered by Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey, has long relied on Russia as a big power ally, though Pashinyan has angered the Kremlin by questioning the foundations of the alliance.

"We need to understand who we can really maintain military-technical and defense relations with," Pashinyan told Armenian Public Radio when asked about reform of Armenia's armed forces.

"Previously, this problem was simple because there was no such question and there was no difficulty in creating a concept. Previously, 95-97% of our defense relations were with the Russian Federation. Now this cannot be for both objective and subjective reasons," he said.

Pashinyan said Armenia should think about what security ties it should build with the United States, France, India and Georgia.

Since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has faced competition from the United States for dominance of what were once Soviet republics and before that parts of the Russian empire.

Pashinyan says Russia failed Armenia when Azerbaijan launched a lightning-fast military operation that took back control over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, triggering an outflow of ethnic Armenians living there.

Russia says that Pashinyan's own failure to navigate the complex rivalries of the South Caucasus was to blame for the 2023 defeat of ethnic Armenian fighters in Karabakh.

Azerbaijan has accused France of sowing the seeds of a new war by supplying arms to Armenia, which is also being courted by the United States.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn)