By Ani Avetisyan
Only a few years ago, the idea seemed unimaginable: the United States is planning to give considerable military assistance to Armenia, Russia’s not-so-long-ago strategic partner. But times have changed, and Washington is treading cautiously as it works to erase a geopolitical red line in the Caucasus.
The Armenian government started distancing itself politically and economically from Russia after experiencing a crushing defeat at the hands of the Azerbaijani military in Nagorno-Karabakh. The widespread feeling in Yerevan was that the Kremlin failed to fulfill its security commitments to Armenia. The European Union and the United States have been quick to respond to Armenian feelers for closer security and economic ties. In early April, the EU and US came up with a combined assistance offering of over $350 million for Yerevan.
Following up on that meeting, US Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien provided an overview of rapidly expanding US-Armenian relations in an April 10 interview with the Armenian Service of RFE/RL, saying that Washington’s contacts with Yerevan ”in just about every sector have expanded and deepened” over the past year.
That includes military cooperation. “We’ve had significant expansion on this theme in the last year,” Kvien noted, pointing to the joint US-Armenian military exercises in early September in Armenia. The envoy also said an American military “advisor” would soon work with the Armenian Defense Ministry to implement capacity-building reforms promoting “modern standards” in planning and operations.
“Armenia is interested in expanding its participation in things like peacekeeping and other peaceful endeavors,” Kvien said. “We’re talking about all sorts of different things, and we’re trying to see where we can be helpful to Armenia in terms of its defense.”
