Underlining the significance of the 10-day drills for the Armenian government, Defense Minister Suren Papikian attended their opening ceremony held in the grounds of Yerevan’s Vazgen Sargsian Military Academy.
“I highly appreciate this cooperation aimed at increasing the interoperability of units participating in international peacekeeping missions within the scope of peacekeeping operations,” the Armenian Defense Ministry quoted Papikian as saying at the ceremony.
The U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Kristina Kvien, also spoke during the ceremony. She described the Eagle Partner 2024 exercise as a “testament to our longstanding partnership with Armenia.”
In a statement, the Defense Ministry reiterated that the exercise involves soldiers of an Armenian peacekeeping brigade, U.S. Army Europe and Africa and the Kansas National Guard. They will practice taking “stabilization actions” during a joint peacekeeping operation in an imaginary conflict zone, the statement added without disclosing the number of participating troops.
“The exercise will build on Armenian and U.S. collective ability to conduct peacekeeping operations by performing gunnery and stability training, weapons familiarization, and range management,” U.S. Army Europe and Africa said on July 6.
Eighty-five U.S. and 175 Armenian soldiers held a similar exercise at two training grounds outside Yerevan last September. Two U.S. generals watched one of those training sessions together with Papikian. Russia as well as neighboring Iran criticized the 2023 drills.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday denounced the latest drills as well. The ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said they are aimed at driving Russia and Iran out of the region and will deal another blow to Russian-Armenian military ties.
Yerevan’s broader relationship with Moscow has deteriorated further over the past year, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announcing in February the “freezing” of Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Pashinian has repeatedly said that his country will eventually leave the military alliance altogether.
Pashinian’s political allies as well as Western-funded civic groups have welcomed the pro-Western shift in Armenia’s traditional geopolitical orientation, backing government claims that Moscow has failed to honor its security commitments. By contrast, Armenian opposition groups are seriously concerned about it. They say that the policy change is reckless because the United States and other Western powers will not give Armenia security guarantees or significant military aid.