Stock market surges, hits all-time record high. The American economy is booming. pic.twitter.com/ECwbkn9pAr
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) February 22, 2024
Day: February 22, 2024
Biden fundraising ‘dream team’ creates $140 million war chest to take on Donald Trump https://t.co/XW9rdyP8SO
— CNBC (@CNBC) February 22, 2024
President Biden said he will announce sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to the death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny https://t.co/8J33UrxZuL pic.twitter.com/3xDqZiZAZw
— The Hill (@thehill) February 22, 2024
Alain Delon – “I asked my son for euthanasia, and then Russia started a war in Ukraine and started killing a lot of people, and I found the strength to live by helping the people of Ukraine” https://t.co/J9tt86tQyr
— Olena_Wave🇺🇦 (@OlenaWave) February 22, 2024
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—France’s Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu flew to Yerevan on Thursday as Armenia reportedly received French military hardware acquired by it last October.
A deal signed by the Armenian Defense Ministry and the French defense group Thales at the time called for the sale of three sophisticated radar systems to the South Caucasus nation.
Lecornu and his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan attended the signing ceremony in Paris.
The GM200 radars can simultaneously detect and track multiple warplanes, drones and even rockets within a 250-kilometer radius, allowing air-defense units to hit such targets. France supplied two such systems to Ukraine a year ago.
France’s Le Figaro daily and AFP news agency reported that the three radars as well as French night-vision equipment will be shipped to Armenia on Thursday. The Armenian Defense Ministry declined to comment on those reports.
Lecornu stressed on Wednesday the “purely defensive” character of these and other French arms supplies. Armenia is facing “major security challenges,” he told the French broadcaster RTL in a clear reference to the risk of an Azerbaijani attack on the country.
Lecornu headed to Armenia the day after French President Emmanuel Macron and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met in Paris ahead of an official ceremony to inter Missak Manouchian, an Armenian hero of the French Resistance to Nazi occupation, at the national Pantheon.
“We will continue our defense cooperation with Armenia,” Macron said at the start of the meeting. He urged Azerbaijan to explicitly recognize Armenia’s borders and enable Nagorno-Karabakh’s displaced population to return to its homeland “freely and rapidly.”
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned Macron’s statement, saying that it could only create “new tensions” in the region.
Lecornu and Papikyan are scheduled to meet on Friday. Andranik Kocharyan, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security, did not rule out that more French-Armenian agreements could be signed as a result of their talks.
“Armenia seeks to acquire weapons of very high quality from multiple sources,” Kocharyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The two ministers signed in October a “letter of intent” on the future delivery of French short-range surface-to-air missiles to Armenia. It emerged afterwards that France will also supply a total of 50 armored personnel carriers. The first batch of 24 Bastion vehicles apparently bound for Armenia was spotted in the Georgian port of Poti in December.
Kocharyan also stressed the importance of France’s pledge to train Armenian military personnel. According to Le Figaro and AFP, the French military will hold three “mountain combat training courses” for them this year.
Russia has long been Armenia’s principal supplier of weapons and ammunition. But with Russian-Armenian relations worsening and Russia embroiled in the large-scale war with Ukraine, Yerevan is increasingly looking for other arms suppliers. Since September 2022, it has also signed a number of defense contracts with India reportedly worth at least $400 million.
An Azerbaijani man, wanted for war crimes by Armenia, received a hero’s welcome in Baku on Thursday, a day after Russian security officials briefly detained him, and then set him free, with the intervention of Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Moscow.
Armenian law enforcement agencies announced on Thursday that an official request for extradition was submitted to Russia for Kamil Zeynalli, the Azerbaijani man wanted by Armenia. Azerbaijani media, meanwhile, reported that Zeynalli returned to Baku was greeted by relatives and public, wrapping himself in the country’s flag.
Armenia issued an international arrest warrant for Zeynalli, charging him with war crimes, aggression and being a mercenary.
Russian security officials detained Zeynalli at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport as he was boarding a flight to Baku on Wednesday. He was later released and placed “under the supervision of Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia.”
According to unconfirmed reports, Zeynalli is suspected of war crimes committed during the 2020 Artsakh war when he was a soldier of the Azerbaijan army. He is wanted for the alleged killing and beheading of an elderly person, who was being held captive by Azerbaijani forces.
Zeynalli, who claims he is a blogger and a fitness instructor, has been awarded medals of honor for his service in the Azerbaijani army.
Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan was asked by journalists on Thursday to elaborate on Yerevan’s actions regarding Zeynalli and his extradition to Armenia. He told reporters that he preferred “not to elaborate on the matter,” and suggested further discussions, presumably with Baku.
The Kremlin reacted with predictable fury on Thursday after President Joe Biden publicly called his Russian counterpart a “crazy SOB.”https://t.co/UtrX91aAJF
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 22, 2024