The arrival of US soldiers for a peacekeeper training exercise in Armenia has rankled the Russian government, which has for decades acted as the sole security guarantor for the former Soviet republic. The 10-day “Eagle Partner” exercise, which began Monday, involves 85 US and 175 Armenian soldiers and aims to prepare the Armenians to take part in international peacekeeping missions.
The exercise, while small in scale, is the latest in a series of what Russia’s foreign ministry has deemed “unfriendly actions” taken by its traditional ally.
Armenia recently sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine for the first time, and its parliament is set to ratify the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute – meaning it would be obliged to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were to set foot in the country, which Russia has long viewed as its own backyard.
Armenia’s flirtation with new international partners has been spurred by its frustration that Russia has been unable or unwilling to defend it against what it sees as aggression from neighboring Azerbaijan, and has raised questions about Russia’s ability to retain its hold on countries and conflicts across the former Soviet empire.
Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan said his country was beginning to taste the “bitter fruits” of the “strategic mistake” of trusting Russia with near-exclusive responsibility for his country’s defense.
“Armenia’s security architecture 99.999% was linked to Russia,” he told Italian newspaper La Repubblica earlier this month. “But today we see that Russia itself is in need of weapons… Even if it wishes so, the Russian Federation cannot meet Armenia’s needs.”
Edit: As Furball commented, Pashinyan is the Prime Minister of Armenia
Says who? NATO isn’t a monolith, and I rather like changing former adversaries to allies.
Says me, a voter in Turkey. No Turkish government is going to allow this.
Of course they would. Your fat joke of a wannabe dictator will dance to any tune if you throw enough money at him.
Turkey is never going to let Armenia in, the hatred between their nations is too great. There would be riots in the streets of Turkey if they allowed Armenia to join
Maybe it’s time for regime change in Ankara if they think they’d be the victims in all this.
Maybe one day you’ll be able to elect a government that isn’t full of wannabe fashists and will actually acknowledge what was done to the Armenian people.
You mean how Armenia has been illegally occupying Azeri land since the 90s?
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Ah yes, the only genocide that has its kill count increase each year way after its supposed end. Did it reach a million this year?
Not denying a massacre between both sides happened, every source out there is unbelievably inconsistent with their numbers. Considering Turkey offered Armenia to research it properly only to get a refusal, Armenia definetly plays a the victim that paints the picture worse.
Comparison between a systematically supported eradication of people by the government and a really badly managed revolt control attempt of a country does not make sense.
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The problem is that if the rest of NATO could drop Turkey, they would have done it already.
Lol turkey is such a great member!