Armenia’s National Security chief Armen Grigoryan on Wednesday defended Yerevan’s recent weapons acquisitions, saying the latest bolstering of its military capabilities aims to “protect and defend the sovereign territory of Armenia.”
France announced last week that through a new deal with a French arms manufacturer, Armenia would receive CAESAR Howitzer advance missile system. Yerevan confirmed on Tuesday that Armenia was on track to receive 36 Howitzer over the next 15 months.
The latest arms deal with France has angered not only Azerbaijan, but also Russia, with both accusing Paris of destabilizing the region. Official Baku has said that France is derailing the peace talks with Armenia, while Moscow is accusing Paris of encroaching on its area of influence and advancing the West’s anti-Russia agenda.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a press briefing on Wednesday that France is using Yerevan “as a tool to achieve its own opportunistic goals and is not guided by the interests of Armenia and the Armenian people.”
“This is a typical ploy for Paris. to be everywhere and not take responsibility,” Zakharova said, adding that France had “ a million opportunities to resolve conflicts,” one of them as a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group.
She said that the France’s true intentions were released through its “unconditional support for the Kyiv region, which has been pursuing an anti-Russia course. “Paris was never interested in peace agreements,” Zakharova said.
The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson claimed that the West is bitter and jealous at the fact that Russia had mediated a road map with Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the existing conflict between the two countries. She said the West now is looking at the Caucasus “as a zone of interests and is unable to achieve any progress for peace, thus it is laying the groundwork for more chaos in the region.
She called the Western machinations “revenge for Russia’s peace-loving efforts.”
Zakharova stressed that countries such as France, which are making proposals that will impact the region, are bad actors. She warned that, in the end, France’s actions will only end in the suffering of “the peaceful people.”
Grigoryan, Armenia’s national security chief, said that Armenia’s technical and military collaboration with Russia has dropped from 96 percent to less that 10 percent.
“It was Russia that decided not to supply weapons and ammunition [to Armenia]. By the way, they have not yet fully fulfilled what was stipulated by the contracts. It is interesting that even in the conditions of such problems, when they regularly complain that Armenia buys weapons from other countries, they still do not continue supplies under the contracts signed in 2021 and 2022,” said Grigoryan.
He said that the further development of Armenia’s relations with Russia depends on how Moscow responds and reacts to that problems that exist, including contracts that were enacted in 2021.
Grigoryan said that the delays in delivery has been attributed to the Ukraine war.
However, he also said that certain circles have suggested that if Moscow were to provide weapons to Armenia it would make Yerevan’s predicament much tougher.
“I want to say that a high-ranking official from Armenia was once told ‘if Russia supplies us with weapons and ammunition, our positions will become tough.’ And that is also the reason why they are not supplying them,” Grigoryan added.
Armenia’s authorities have regularly complained about the delays in delivery of Russian military equipment that Yerevan has said it has paid for. While the exact amount has not officially been released, some analysts put the price tag at $250 million to $400 million.