The Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.S.-led alliance is seeking closer ties with and stronger influence on Russia’s ex-Soviet allies as part of its ongoing “geopolitical confrontation” with Russia.
“The United States and its allies are trying to discredit regional countries’ cooperation with our country and draw them into various formats of cooperation that have an obviously anti-Russian and at times Russophobe character,” said Maria Zakharova, the ministry spokeswoman. “Such actions by NATO lead to the destabilization of the situation in various regions, growth of their conflict potential and creation of new division lines.”
“We have requested official explanations from our Armenian partners with regard to their participation in NATO exercises. We will formulate our reaction after receiving a reply,” Zakharova told a news briefing.
The remarks came one week after the U.S. Department of Defense listed Armenia among 26 nations, most of them NATO members, that will participate in an upcoming U.S.-led military exercise in Europe. It removed the South Caucasus country from the list, posted on the Pentagon’s website, the following day.
The Armenian Defense Ministry confirmed on April 6 that will not send troops to the Defender 23 exercise which the Pentagon says is designed to “deter those who would threaten the peace of Europe.” The ministry said that Armenian soldiers will likely participate instead in two other, more small-scale drills that will be held by U.S. Army Europe and Africa later this year.
Armenia has long been allied to Russia, which claims to have faced growing “hostility” from NATO and the United States in particular since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Armenia’s relations with Russia and the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have deteriorated in recent months due to what Yerevan sees as a lack of support from its allies in the conflict with Azerbaijan. Earlier this year, the Armenian government cancelled a CSTO military exercise which was due to take place in Armenia this year.
Zakharova said Moscow “regrets” the cancellation and believes that it “does not help to enhance regional security.”
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko met with Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and other senior Armenian diplomats during a visit to Yerevan on Tuesday. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the talks focused on regional and international security.
