“Gen. Brown thanked Lt. Gen. [Edvard] Asrian for Armenia’s productive military-to-military cooperation with the U.S. and reaffirmed the importance of strengthening the defense relationship,” the Joint Staff spokesman, Jereal Dorsey, said on Thursday.
“Additionally, the military leaders discussed Armenia’s military modernization initiatives, and Gen. Brown offered to support these efforts through the State Partnership Program and additional training opportunities. Finally, the Chairman expressed concern about Russia’s malign influence in the region and the need to counter these activities,” Dorsey added in a short statement.
The Armenian Defense Ministry did not mention Russia, Armenia’s increasingly estranged ally, in its readout of the talks. It said Asrian discussed with Brown bilateral ties and “a range of issues related to regional security.”
“The U.S. side reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the ongoing transformation and reforms of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia,” the statement said.
U.S. and Armenian troops held in July a joint exercise in Armenia for a second time in less than a year. They practiced a joint peacekeeping operation in the presence of three U.S. generals who arrived in the South Caucasus country on the occasion.
Russia denounced the drills held amid a continuing deterioration of its relations with Armenia. It said they will deal another blow to Russian-Armenian military ties and put Armenia’s security at greater risk. A senior official from the U.S. State Department announced, meanwhile, that it will soon appoint a resident adviser to the Armenian Defense Ministry in line with an ongoing “upgrade of U.S.-Armenia relations to strategic partnership.”
Asrian, who heads the Armenian army’s General Staff, met with three other U.S. military officials on Tuesday. One of them, Mike Miller, is the director of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency tasked with training, advising and equipping foreign militaries.
So far Washington has signaled no plans to provide Armenia with weapons or other significant military support. Armenian opposition groups point to this fact in their criticism of the pro-Western shift in Armenia’s traditional geopolitical orientation.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced in February the “freezing” of Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). He has repeatedly said since then that his country will eventually leave the military alliance altogether.
