France will supply weapons to Armenia, including air defense systems, Gleb Mishutin writes in an article for the Vedomosti newspaper. The statement about this was made on October 21 by French Defense Minister Sebastian Lecornu. "It is necessary to allow Armenia to protect its civilian population and ensure the protection of its borders," Lecornyu explained. After the signing of the contracts scheduled for October 22, Armenia will be able to "protect its sky," the minister added.
(c) DIEGO HERRERA CARCEDO / AFP
The issue of Paris providing military assistance to Yerevan has been raised by the Armenian authorities before. On October 5, Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturian said on the France 2 TV channel that the country needs a new military partner besides Russia. "France has expressed its resolute intention to help us, to support us in order to strengthen our defense capability <...> Our goal is to defend ourselves and stop Azerbaijan's ambitions, because the final goal is to live in peace with our neighbor," Khachaturian stressed.
Shortly before that, on September 28, the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) announced its self-dissolution starting from January 1, 2024. This decision was the result of Azerbaijan's "counter-terrorism operation" in the region, which accused Armenia of violating the 2020 trilateral peace agreements. A day after the start of the operation, Azerbaijan and the NKR, with the mediation of Russian peacekeepers, concluded an agreement that provided for the withdrawal of the Armenian military, the disbandment and disarmament of the army of the unrecognized republic and the withdrawal of military equipment. The leadership of the NKR was either arrested or surrendered to the Azerbaijani authorities. More than 100,000 Armenians left Nagorno-Karabakh and moved to Armenia.
At the moment, Yerevan is facing serious security challenges, which encourages it to expand the geography of its partners, says Vadim Mukhanov, Head of the Caucasus Sector of the Center for Post-Soviet Studies. The reason for this is the aggravation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, which has gone beyond the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan, having drawn conclusions from the latest conflict with Azerbaijan, which showed Armenia's serious military-technical lag, demonstrates a utilitarian approach to the tasks of its own security. The Armenian government is interested in a real strengthening of the republic's defense capability, so it is not surprising that against the background of disappointment in relations with Moscow, a military-political turn to the West is being observed in Yerevan, Mukhanov says.
Armenia has already received French weapons - even before the 2020 war, Greece supplied the French Milan anti-tank complexes to the Armenian army, Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, recalls. After the start of the military special operation, when Russia's capabilities for the supply of a number of weapons decreased, Armenia purchased towed howitzers of Indian production, he continues. Most likely, given the high cost of French weapons, we are talking about the purchase of the cheapest systems like the Mistral portable anti-aircraft missile systems or solutions based on them. It is most likely that they are also purchased at the expense of a loan from French banks, Pukhov believes. The Armenian leadership, drifting away from Russia, expects to get closer to Paris by purchasing weapons, believing that it will help in the confrontation with Azerbaijan, but these may be vain hopes, the expert warns.
