By Kontur and AFP | 2025-01-16

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Tuesday (January 14) signed an agreement to expand security cooperation with Armenia, which is seeking a greater distance from traditional ally Russia following a humiliating defeat by Azerbaijan.

The United States and Armenia formed a "strategic partnership commission" that will look for ways to build ties in areas from defense to the economy to democracy, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The United States is "working with Armenia in the realm of security and defense, and in particular, to support its efforts to assert its independence and sovereignty over its own territory," Blinken said at a signing ceremony with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

"We are increasingly strong partners, and I think that is for the good of both of our countries, as well as the good of the region and beyond," Blinken said.

Among concrete measures, Blinken said the United States would send a team to Armenia to provide expertise on strengthening border security.

The United States will also start negotiations with Armenia on civilian nuclear cooperation, and Yerevan will formally join a longstanding US-led coalition on defeating the "Islamic State" extremist movement.

Armenia is formally an ally of Russia through the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). But it suspended participation over what it called a failure by Russia, embroiled in its invasion of Ukraine, to provide sufficient assistance against Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan's army seized the Karabakh region -- controlled by Armenian separatists for three decades -- in a lightning offensive in 2023, forcing the region's more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee.

Blinken has previously tried, unsuccessfully, to broker a lasting peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Mirzoyan saluted Blinken's efforts and said Armenia was still pursuing a peace agreement.

"We believe that a stable and prosperous South Caucasus is in the interest of all regional actors and the broader international community," Mirzoyan said.

Turn toward the West

In another shift toward the West, the Armenian parliament last week approved a draft bill to initiate the process of applying to join the European Union (EU).

The move would make Yerevan's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union -- a Moscow-led customs bloc -- incompatible, Russia said Tuesday.

Russia said its partnership with Armenia was a boon for the landlocked Caucasus country of some three million.

"The United States has never played a particularly stabilizing role in the South Caucasus," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

While Armenia enjoys a "sovereign right to develop ties in all directions," Peskov said that relations with Russia offer "a significant dividend for Armenia and its people."

To date, the US government has invested approximately $3.3 billion to support democratic reforms, economic growth and resilience, and humanitarian assistance in Armenia, the US State Department said in a statement.

That figure includes $340 million since 2021, when the border crisis between Armenia and Azerbaijan flared up.

Over the past two years, the United States has expanded defense engagements with Armenia, the statement added, hosting Eagle Partner bilateral exercises in 2023 and 2024 to bolster interoperability during peacekeeping exercises.

"Strong partners make stable regional partners, and our bilateral cooperation reflects our shared commitment to a more resilient, peaceful, secure and independent South Caucasus," the statement said.