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US stocks – 12-09-23
The United States and Armenia opened military drills on Monday, the latest sign of Yerevan drifting from Moscow’s orbit as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reshapes post-Soviet relations.
The exercises come amid mounting frustration in Armenia over what it sees as Russia’s failure to act as a security guarantor amid mounting tensions with its historic rival Azerbaijan.
Exercise Eagle Partner opened with some 85 US soldiers to train around 175 Armenian soldiers through September 20, according to the US Army Europe and Africa Command.
Armenia’s defense ministry said the exercises aimed to “increase the level of interoperability” with US forces in international peacekeeping missions.
The US military said the drills would help Armenia’s 12th Peacekeeping Brigade meet NATO standards ahead of an evaluation later this year.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Armenia’s decision not to conduct drills with the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) alliance and instead work with the United States required “very deep analysis.”
“Of course, we will try to comprehend and understand all this. But in any case we will do so in close partnership dialogue with the Armenian side,” he said.
The United States brushed off the Kremlin critique and pointed to Russia’s wars with both Ukraine and Georgia.
“I think that given Russia has invaded two of its neighbours in recent years, it should refrain from lecturing countries in the region about security arrangements,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
He said that the United States has had security cooperation with Armenia since 2003 and called the latest drill “a routine exercise that is in no way tied to any other events.”
But Moscow last week summoned Armenia’s ambassador to complain about “unfriendly steps” the country was taking.
The ministry said Armenia’s envoy was given a “tough” rebuke but insisted that the countries “remain allies.”
“It sounded more like a threat to Yerevan than a description of reality,” said Gela Vasadze, an independent political analyst.
“In fact, Russian-Armenian relations have reached a strategic impasse,” he told AFP.
‘Weakened Russia’
In Yerevan, residents expressed frustration over Russia’s lack of military and political support as tensions with Azerbaijan flared again.
Mariam Anahamyan, 27, told AFP that Armenia had made a mistake by “pinning its hopes on the Russians.”
“So now let’s try with the Americans. The consequences may be bad but not trying would be even worse,” she said.
For Arthur Khachaduryan, a 51-year-old security guard, “Russia failed to keep its commitments during the war and has even made our situation worse.”
He was referring to a brief but bloody conflict in 2020 for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist region in Azerbaijan.
Russia brokered a ceasefire and deployed 2,000 peacekeepers to the Lachin corridor, which connects Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.
But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently said Moscow was either “unable or unwilling” to control the passage.
His government has accused Azerbaijan of closing the road and blockading the mountainous region, spurring a humanitarian crisis in Armenian-populated towns.
Pashinyan also recently claimed that Armenia’s historic security reliance on Russia was a “strategic mistake.”
Bogged down in its invasion and isolated on the world stage, “weakened Russia is rapidly losing influence in its Soviet-era backyard,” said independent analyst Arkady Dubnov.
“Armenians are frustrated with Russia, which failed to help them during the Karabakh war and its aftermath,” he said, adding that Moscow “also seems to be lacking a clear plan, strategy in the Caucasus.”
Azerbaijani soldiers hoisted their flag in the final district given up by Armenia under a peace deal ending fighting over the Nagorno Karabakh region. Photo: AFP
‘New Allies’
Nagorno-Karabakh was at the center of two wars between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
In the 1990s, Armenia defeated Azerbaijan and took control of the region, along with seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan.
Thirty years later, energy-rich Azerbaijan, which built a strong military and secured backing from Turkey, took revenge.
After the 2020 war, Yerevan was forced to cede several territories it had controlled for decades.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh remains volatile, and Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of moving troops near the region recently, raising the specter of a fresh large-scale conflict.
The European Union and United States have taken a lead role in mediating peace talks but have so far failed to bring about a breakthrough.
“The Kremlin has no resources — neither the will — to help Armenia and is letting Azerbaijan and Turkey to pursue their objectives,” Dubnov said.
“In that situation, Armenia is trying to forge strong new alliances.”
The United States hosted negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday, seeking to quell recent tension over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The two sides have gone to war twice, in 1990 and 2020, leaving tens of thousands dead, and clashes regularly erupt over the territory, an Armenian-majority region inside Azerbaijan.
Tensions have spiked again this week after Azerbaijan announced it had set up a checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor, the only land link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, sparking an angry response from Yerevan.
Armenia views the move as a violation of the cease-fire negotiated between the two sides.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a dinner with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoya and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
The US diplomat then kicked off the expected four days of talks between the two sides Monday at a State Department facility outside Washington.
“The US is pleased to be hosting Foreign Minister Mirzoya of Armenia and Foreign Minister Bayramov of Azerbaijan to facilitate negotiations this week, as they work together to pursue a peaceful future for the South Caucasus region,” said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel.
“The secretary believes that direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and reaching a lasting peace,” Patel added.
Blinken also spoke Sunday with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, expressing concerns about the checkpoint, which he said “undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process,” according to a State Department statement on their call.
“We have not parsed our words about the need for the free flow of traffic and people and commerce through the Lachin corridor,” said Patel.
Aiming to Normalize Relations
Speaking on grounds of anonymity Monday, a US official said the talks aim more at “an agreement on normalization of relations” rather than a peace treaty.
“Our goal is to make sure the ministers can sit down and talk to each other,” the official said.
The United States expects the two sides to have a forthright and frank discussion, the official said, adding “all the issues are being discussed.”
Moscow brokered a ceasefire between Yerevan and Baku after the latest bout of fighting in 2020, and posted peacekeepers along the Lachin corridor.
With Russia bogged down in Ukraine and unwilling to strain ties with Azerbaijan’s key ally Turkey, the United States and European Union have sought to steer a thaw in ties.
France’s Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna visited the two countries last week aiming to cool down tensions over the border checkpoint.
She visited Baku and then Yerevan, urging Azerbaijan to restore “unhindered movement” through the Lachin corridor.
In Yerevan she said in a news conference that Armenia’s territorial integrity must be respected.
“The purpose of the visit is to reaffirm France’s support for the Armenian government and people,” Colonna said.
But Azerbaijan reiterated that it had set up a checkpoint on “Azerbaijan’s territory.”
Colonna said it was important for Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume negotiations to secure a resolution to their decades-long standoff.
“We encourage you to resolutely take this path,” Colonna said, adding this was “the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
Blinken has already taken part in two trilateral meetings with the two Caucasus rivals, in November last year and then again in February, on the margins of the international security conference in Munich, Germany.
On Saturday Blinken spoke with Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, emphasizing the importance of peace discussions and pledging continued US support.
A top senator on Tuesday urged the United States to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan’s leader, accusing him of starting a campaign of “genocide” against an ethnic Armenian enclave, charges rejected by Baku.
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of spurring a humanitarian crisis by closing Armenia’s only road link into Nagorno-Karabakh, although the enclave’s separatist authorities said Tuesday that a Russian aid convoy was able to arrive.
Senator Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who is close to the Armenian diaspora, welcomed the three rounds of US-led peace talks between the countries but also called for action against Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
“The Aliyev government in Azerbaijan is carrying out a campaign of heinous atrocities that bear the hallmarks of genocide against the Armenians in Artsakh,” Menendez said, using the Armenian name for the rebel government’s self-styled republic.
“We need to call out those individuals perpetrating this campaign of ethnic cleansing,” Menendez said on the Senate floor.
“We need to target them – including President Aliyev – with sanctions. We need to be cutting off their access to the wealth and oil money they have stashed away at financial institutions around the world, to their yachts and mansions across Europe.”
He pointed to comments by a former International Criminal Court prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, who accused Azerbaijan of waging the “invisible genocide weapon” of starvation by depriving food to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijani soldier stands guard at a checkpoint on a road entering Fuzuli from Hadrut in Nagorno Karabakh, December 2, 2020. Photo: AFP
Azerbaijan denies blocking aid. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the State Department was “deeply concerned” about the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh but had no one on the ground to offer firsthand accounts.
“We do not have any confirmed cases of death due to famine or malnutrition,” the official said.
Another US official rejected suggestions of “international complicity” in the situation, saying, “We’re doing everything we can to focus on how practically to get food assistance in.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, the last in 2020 when Azerbaijan, allied with Turkey, took back territory controlled by Armenia for decades.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has warned of a return to all-out conflict and accused Russia, which stationed peacekeepers after 2020, of being either “unable or unwilling” to control the Lachin corridor into Nagorno-Karabakh.
The first US official insisted that the United States, which is carrying out military exercises with Armenia that have drawn Kremlin concern, is “not trying to displace Russia.”
“This is not about Russia,” he said. “This is about a lasting and durable peace in the region.”