A senior Pentagon official has said that she will visit Yerevan soon to explore the possibility of stepping up military cooperation between the United States and Armenia.
“I look forward to visiting Yerevan in the near future and learning first hand how we can deepen the defense and security ties between our two countries,” Laura Cooper, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, said at a reception hosted by the Armenian Embassy in Washington on Tuesday.
The embassy organized the event to mark the 27th anniversary of the official creation of Armenia’s Armed Forces.
Despite its military alliance with Russia, Armenia has already deepened its military ties with the U.S. and other NATO member states since the early 2000s. It currently contributes troops to NATO-led missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan and regularly participates in multinational exercises organized by the Western alliance. U.S. military assistance to Armenia has totaled about $50 million since 2002.
U.S.- Laura Cooper, the US deputy assistant secretary of defense for Ukraine, Russia and Eurasia.
In her speech, Cooper expressed Washington’s “appreciation” of the Armenian troop deployments in Afghanistan and Kosovo. She said they underscore Armenia’s commitment to a close relationship with the U.S.
The 160 or so Armenian soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Kosovo are part of a special Peacekeeping Brigade which has received considerable assistance from U.S. Army Europe and the Kansas National Guard. U.S. instructors have long been training the brigade’s personnel.
A newly renovated training center of the brigade was inaugurated by Armenian and U.S. military officials in October 2017. The renovation was mostly financed by the U.S.