The visit was announced on January 14 by outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the signing in Washington of the charter of a newly established U.S.-Armenia Strategic Partnership Commission. Blinken described it as a “framework to expand our bilateral cooperation in a number of key areas,” including defense and security.
“Next month, in the coming weeks, we will have a customs and border patrol team to work with their Armenian counterparts on border security capacity building,” he said at the ceremony held just days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian insisted that the U.S. team will visit Armenia. But he declined to give possible dates for the apparently delayed trip.
“With regard to the time frames, bear in mind that an entire [U.S.] administration has changed,” Hovannisian told journalists.
Armenian opposition figures and analysts have played down the previous U.S. administration’s decision to effectively upgrade Washington’s relationship with Yerevan to “strategic partnership.” They argue that the charter signed on January 14 does not commit the United States to giving Armenian security guarantees or military aid.
They also question its significance for the Trump administration whose top foreign policy priorities do not include the South Caucasus. Administration officials have made no public statements on the issue so far.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian expressed confidence on February 12 that the new U.S. administration will stick to the document. Pashinian met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the White House a few days earlier.
Pashinian’s government has been seeking to deepen ties with the U.S. and the European Union amid a deepening rift with Russia, Armenia’s longtime ally. Trump’s efforts to improve the U.S.-Russian relationship, including by stopping the war in Ukraine, have raised more questions about that policy change.