Friday, 


French Defense Chief Visits Armenia Amid Deepening Ties

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia - French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu (left) speaks at a joint 
news conference with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikian, Yerevan, February 
23, 2024.


France will provide more weapons and other military assistance to Armenia to 
help the South Caucasus country defend its territory, French Defense Minister 
Sebastien Lecornu said during a first-ever visit to Yerevan on Friday.

“Threats hanging over Armenia force us to move forward faster,” he told Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian. “It is very important for us to react and take 
necessary steps quickly.”

Speaking after talks with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikian held earlier 
in the day, Lecornu confirmed that Armenia took delivery the previous night of 
the first batch of French night-vision devices commissioned by it last year. The 
Armenian military will also receive soon air-defense radar systems and more 
armored personnel carriers from French manufacturers, he said.

The French defense group Thales signed with the Armenian Defense Ministry a 
contract for the supply of three GM200 radars during Papikian’s visit to Paris 
last October. Papikian and Lecornu signed at the time a “letter of intent” on 
Armenia’s future acquisition of short-range surface-to-air missiles manufactured 
by another French company.

Lecornu indicated that the supply of the Mistral air-defense systems is a matter 
of time. What is more, he expressed France’s readiness to also sell more 
long-range systems to Armenia. He further announced that a French military 
adviser specializing in air defense will be deployed in Armenia to help it 
neutralize “possible strikes by potential aggressors.”

Armenia - Armenian and French flags fly outside the Defense Ministry building in 
Yerevan, .

“Nobody can reproach the Armenian army for boosting its defense capacity,” 
Lecornu told a joint news conference with Papikian, clearly alluding to 
Azerbaijan’s strong criticism of French-Armenian military cooperation.

The Armenian minister emphasized, for his part, that Yerevan is acquiring these 
and other weapons for solely defensive purposes. In an apparent reference to 
Azerbaijan, he spoke of a “visible threat” to Armenia’s territorial integrity.

Neither minister shed light on a number of documents that were signed by them 
after their talks. The AFP news agency reported that the Armenian side also 
signed on Friday a supply contract with the French company PGM manufacturing 
sniper rifles. It said no details of the deal were made public.

The defense cooperation is part of a broader deepening of French-Armenian 
relations cemented by the existence of an influential Armenian community in 
France. It comes amid Armenia’s mounting tensions with Russia, its longtime 
ally. Neighboring Iran has also signaled unease over the pro-Western tilt in 
Armenian foreign policy.

“Our Iranian partners respect our cooperation with other partners, and I think 
our Russian and other partners should do the same because Armenia has no taboos 
when it comes to cooperation to the benefit of Armenia,” Papikian said in this 
regard.

Armenia is “turning to partners that are truly providers of security,” Lecornu 
said when asked to comment on the tensions between Yerevan and Moscow.




Armenian Security Service Denies Russian Obstruction Of EU Mission

        • Artak Khulian

Armenia -- The main entrance to the National Security Service headquarters in 
Yerevan.


The National Security Service (NSS) denied on Friday claims that Russian border 
guards prevent European Union monitors from inspecting a section of Armenia’s 
border with Azerbaijan where four Armenian soldiers were killed last week.

They died when their positions around Nerkin Hand, a village in the southeastern 
Syunik province, came under cross-border fire early on February 13.

The head of the EU monitoring mission, Markus Ritter, said on Wednesday that the 
Russian side did not allow its members to visit Nerkin Hand both before and 
after the incident. Armen Grigorian, the pro-Western secretary of Armenia’s 
Security Council, echoed the claim, saying that Yerevan “will try to address the 
problem.”

RFE/RL’s Armenian Service asked the NSS to clarify whether the EU monitors 
indeed have no access to border sections where Russian border guards and 
military personnel are deployed.

“There are no obstacles to the observation activities of representatives of the 
EU mission at the sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border guarded by the 
border guard troops of the NSS,” the security agency said in a written reply.

“The purpose of the deployment of Russian border guards on the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border is to monitor and take measures aimed at resolving 
possible conflicts peacefully,” added the statement.

Grigorian also blamed the Russians for Azerbaijan’s deadly ceasefire violation. 
“Russia is present there and it failed to prevent the incident,” he said.

Narek Ghahramanian, a Syunik-based parliamentarian representing Armenia’s ruling 
Civil Contract party, insisted on Thursday that “there is no Russian presence” 
in or around Nerkin Hand. There is only a Russian checkpoint on a road leading 
to Nerkin Hand, Ghahramanian said, adding that he has never had trouble visiting 
the remote village.

Russia deployed troops to Syunik during and shortly after the 2020 war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh to help the Armenian military defend the strategic region 
against possible Azerbaijani attacks. Russian-Armenian relations have 
significantly deteriorated since then, with Yerevan accusing Moscow of not 
honoring its security commitments to Armenia.




Pashinian Again Warns Of Azeri Attack On Armenia

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Germany - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosts talks between Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, February 18, 
2024.


Just days after his latest talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian has accused Azerbaijan of planning military aggression 
against Armenia.

“Analyzing … statements made from official Baku, we come to the conclusion that 
yes, an attack on Armenia is very likely,” he told the France 24 TV channel in 
an interview broadcast on Friday.

Pashinian complained that the Azerbaijani leadership is still reluctant to 
recognize Armenia’s border “without ambiguity” and continues to refer to much of 
Armenian territory as “Western Azerbaijan.” He said Baku is not honoring 
understandings on the key parameters of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty 
reached by him and Aliyev during their meetings in 2022 and 2023 mediated by the 
European Union.

Speaking on February 18, one day after meeting with Aliyev in Munich, Pashinian 
stated that both sides are “committed to those understandings.” Both leaders 
sounded satisfied with the talks hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The 
latter said they “agreed to resolve open issues without new violence.”

It was also agreed that the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers will meet 
soon for further discussions on the peace treaty. A senior Armenian official 
said on Thursday that the two sides continue to disagree on key provisions of 
the would-be treaty.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected Pashinian’s latest claims. It said 
they are “absolutely baseless” and aimed at misleading the international 
community.

Pashinian already charged on February 15 that Azerbaijan is pursuing a “policy 
of military coercion” in an effort to clinch more Armenian territory and other 
concessions from Yerevan. He said it may be planning to launch “military 
operations at some sections of the border with the prospect of turning the 
military escalation into a full-scale war against Armenia.”

The premier went on to reject Azerbaijani demands for major legislative changes 
in Armenia, saying that they constitute a violation of his country’s sovereignty 
and interference in its internal affairs. Pashinian himself called last month 
for the adoption of a new Armenian constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical 
environment” in the region. His critics say that he did so under Azerbaijani 
pressure.




Armenia’s Membership In Russian-Led Defense Bloc ‘Frozen’


France - French President Emmanuel Macron meets Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian at the Elysee Palace in Paris, February 21, 2024.


Armenia has essentially frozen its membership in the Russian-led Collective 
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in a 
televised interview publicized on Friday.

“In our view, the CSTO has not fulfilled -- in 2021 and 2022 in particular -- 
its security obligations to Armenia, and we could not have let that go without 
consequences,” Pashinian told the France 24 TV channel. “As a consequence, we 
have, in effect, frozen our participation in the CSTO. We’ll see what happens 
tomorrow.”

Armenia officially requested military intervention from Russia and other CSTO 
allies after Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations launched along the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022. It has since repeatedly accused 
them of ignoring the request in breach of the CSTO’s statutes and declared 
mission. It has declined CSTO offers to provide “military-technical assistance” 
to Yerevan and deploy a monitoring mission to the border.

Last year, Pashinian’s government not only shunned various-level CSTO meetings 
but also cancelled a CSTO exercise in Armenia, refused to name an Armenian 
deputy head of the organization and recalled the Armenian representative to its 
Moscow headquarters.

Moscow reacted cautiously to Pashinian’s latest remarks, with Kremlin spokesman 
Dmitry Peskov saying that it expects Yerevan to clarify them. Peskov also noted 
that the Armenian side has not notified the CSTO about the suspensions of its 
membership in the organization.

Belarus - Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a CSTO summit in Minsk, 
November 23, 2023.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested in December that Armenia is not 
planning to leave the CSTO and attributed Yerevan’s boycott of the organization 
to internal “processes” taking place in the country. By contrast, the Russian 
Foreign Ministry earlier accused Pashinian of systematically “destroying” 
Russian-Armenian relations.

Pashinian, who was apparently interviewed by the French broadcaster during a 
visit to Paris on Wednesday, also claimed that in the wake of Azerbaijan’s 
recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh last September “Russia’s most high-ranking 
representatives” encouraged Armenians to take to the streets and topple him. 
Moscow did not immediately respond to the claim.

Pashinian also hit out at out Russia when he visited Germany at the weekend to 
attend an annual security conference in Munich. He met with German Chancellor 
Olaf Scholz, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British intelligence 
chief Richard Moore on the sidelines of the forum.

The Armenian premier’s latest criticism of Russia highlights a deepening rift 
between the two longtime allies. He has so far stopped short of announcing plans 
to pull Armenia out of the CSTO and demand the withdrawal Russian troops from 
the country.

Pashinian and his political allies say that they are “diversifying” Armenia’s 
foreign and security policy due to the lack of Russian support. Their political 
opponents regard the policy change as reckless, arguing that the West is not 
ready to give Yerevan any security guarantees or provide it with significant 
military aid.



Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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