On April 5, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Union Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell met Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels. The State Department said the meeting’s purpose was “to reaffirm support for Armenia’s sovereignty, democracy, territorial integrity, and socio-economic resilience.” Turkey reacted furiously and without a sense of irony, calling Washington and Brussels’ diplomatic involvement a violation of neutrality since the matter did not concern them.
To underscore the US and European commitment to Armenia’s security and economic resilience, the US and European Union promised $290 million to be disbursed over four years.
The Biden administration and European officials may want to view the money as a sign of their commitment to Armenia, but the package actually does the opposite.
To offer Armenia $72.5 million per year suggests a lack of seriousness. It is one-third of what the United States gives the Central African Republic, even before adding the European contribution to that country, and just slightly more than aid to Moldova, a former Soviet state with roughly the same population. Rather than truly supplement Armenia in its pivot to the West, therefore, the State Department and USAID are giving Armenia an infusion to get it to the starting line.
For too long, Blinken and Power have sought to pair any concession to Armenia with appeasement of Azerbaijan. So too do they now. True, US foreign assistance to Azerbaijan lags behind that of Armenia. This does not surprise, given that Azerbaijan receives tens of billions of dollars in hydrocarbon income annually. Nevertheless, the State Department and USAID increased foreign assistance to Azerbaijan by more than 1,100 percent since 2021. Such actions have consequence. Azerbaijan has reportedly received more than one arms delivery per day, flying in advanced weaponry from both Israel and Pakistan.
Such a buildup comes not only after Azerbaijan uprooted and expelled Nagorno-Karabakh’s indigenous Armenian population, but also as it continues to attack Armenia proper and occupy Armenian land. Surveying the Azerbaijan-Armenia border near Nerkin Khndzoresk last year, the Armenia guard post under construction was simple: A two-story building to provide living and working quarters for the Armenia Border Guards in the area. Less than a kilometer away, the new Azerbaijani post was also visible, with advanced radar, helicopter landing and fuel facilities, rocket launchers, and machine gun nests. Put another way, Armenia built a border post, Azerbaijan constructed a forward operating base to continue its war.
