Joint military exercises with the United States have begun in Armenia

Joint military exercises with the United States have begun in Armenia

The EaglePartner 2023 exercises have begun in Armenia jointly with the United States, the AFP news agency reports, citing a representative of the US Army command in Europe and Africa.

"Joint exercises between Armenian and American forces began on Monday," the source said. In his opinion, this indicates the distance of Yerevan from Moscow.

85 American and 175 Armenian servicemen are participating in the maneuvers, Sputnik Armenia reports.

The Kremlin has stated that it will deeply analyze the plans of the United States and Armenia. "Of course, <...> this causes wariness, <...> especially in the current situation," said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Earlier, Armenia Press reported that the exercises will be held in Armenia on September 11-20 on the basis of the Zar training center. According to the country's Defense Ministry, the purpose of the exercises is to work out "operations to stabilize relations between the conflicting parties in the performance of peacekeeping tasks," as well as to increase the readiness of Armenian troops for planned assessments within the framework of the NATO Partnership for Peace program.

Partnership for Peace is a program of bilateral cooperation between NATO and a separate partner country that is not a member of the alliance.

Armenia has been participating in the program since 1994. The republic's military took part in NATO missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in Kosovo.

Armenia is also a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) along with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

In January 2023, Yerevan refused the CSTO exercises "Unbreakable Brotherhood-2023" with the participation of the Russian army, considering their holding "at least this year" impractical. In the summer, Armenia refused to participate in the CSTO joint exercises in Belarus.