Peacekeepers to hold joint exercises with US in Armenia

The Armenian-American exercises of Eagle Partner 2023 peacekeeping units will be held on the territory of Armenia as part of preparations for participation in international peacekeeping missions, reported Ministry of Defense of the Republic. Earlier, Yerevan refused to accept the exercises of the CSTO peacekeeping forces this year.

“The exercises involve operations to stabilize relations between the conflicting parties in the performance of peacekeeping tasks.

The purpose of the exercises is to increase the level of coordination of units participating in international peacekeeping missions as part of peacekeeping operations,” the report says.

Armenia also expects to increase the readiness of the Armenian peacekeepers for the planned assessments of the “Operational Capabilities Concept” of the NATO Partnership for Peace program.

The exercises will be held on September 11-20 at the Zar training center of the peacekeeping brigade and training center N of the Armenian Defense Ministry.

This year, the exercises of the peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) “Indestructible Brotherhood – 2023” were to be held on the territory of Armenia. In January, Prime Minister of the Republic Nikol Pashinyan informedthat the country will not accept them. In addition, Pashinyan proposed replacing Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh with a UN contingent after the expiration of the Russian mandate in 2025.

This was preceded by Azerbaijan blocking the Stepanakert-Goris highway in the Lachin corridor, the only transport artery connecting the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and Armenia.

On September 3, Pashinyan, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, said that Russia was moving away from the South Caucasus, and Russian peacekeepers did not control the Lachin corridor. The Kremlin did not agree with Pashinyan’s opinion. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, Russia continues play a consistent and very important role in stabilizing the situation in the region and “it cannot go anywhere.”