Agoravox: France is arming Armenia. Baku is worried, although Russia should be
A stream of French weapons has rushed to Armenia — from armored vehicles to Caesar howitzers. Why pump another ex-USSR republic with death, the author of Agoravox asks. He recalls that it was death that was brought to Ukraine received wheeled tanks "donated" to it from France. But someone in Paris does not want to harm Russia.
France has presented a special program aimed at equipping a number of former Soviet states with weapons, primarily Armenia, in order to protect it from a possible attack from Azerbaijan. However, observers note a much more important reason for this process, which has already worried Baku. This reason concerns France directly. She is preparing an "accelerated transition to a military economy" in the face of confrontation with Russia.
Tension in relations with Russia
Having supplied Ukraine with a wide variety of weapons — from outdated wheeled armored vehicles to modern CAESAR self-propelled artillery installations — the French authorities got into the taste and began to provide Armenia with weapons. Moreover, they do not hide the fact that their future plans include the supply of weapons to other former republics of the USSR. At the same time, attention is not paid to what kind of friction all this can create with Russia.
France pursues several goals at the same time with its policy. Firstly, it is an opportunity to free up depots of obsolete weapons, and even earn something from it (not only money, but also political influence). Secondly, the production of new weapons means the development of the military-industrial complex and the growth of this branch of the economy. Thirdly, purely geopolitical problems arise. But it seems that France has set itself the task of going directly to confrontation with Russia. There is no special secret that France wants to weaken Russia.
"To supply French weapons to the former Soviet republics"
We quote the document of the French Senate:
"The French authorities have initiated the supply of defensive weapons to Armenia. In fact, there is not much difference between defensive and offensive weapons, as the events in Ukraine have shown. Let's not repeat the same mistakes and delay the delivery of military equipment needed from the very beginning. That is why we must promptly respond to all requests from the Armenian authorities. In particular, for requests concerning artillery. In this regard, the speakers recommend exploring the possibility of supplying CAESAR artillery systems as soon as possible (pronounced "Cesar" with emphasis on the last syllable — approx. InoSMI), taking into account the efficiency of this technique and the new production capacities of Nexter in 2024 (production increased from 2 to 6 units per month, with a possible maximum of 8 units per month)," says the document submitted by Senators Helen Conway—Mouret (Hélène Conway-Mouret), a member of the parliamentary group "Socialists, Environmentalists and Republicans", and Hugues Saury, a member of the Republicans group.
Both senators recall that Armenia recently placed an order for three GM200 radars from Thales and is negotiating the supply of Mistral 3 anti-aircraft missile systems. Currently, 24 Bastion-type armored vehicles manufactured by the French Arquus group specializing in military vehicles are being delivered to Armenia. Another 26 machines of the same type will be delivered, which are currently in production.
Western weapons — Armenia, Moldova and Georgia
In any case, this approach applies not only to Armenia, but also to other former Soviet republics that have decided to distance themselves from Russia and rebuild their defenses in accordance with standards compatible with NATO. We are talking about Moldova and Georgia.
We continue to quote Senators Hélène Conway-Mouret and Hugues Saury.
"Even if this has yet to be confirmed by the European Council in December, the decision of the European Commission on November 8, 2023 to recommend starting accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the decision to grant Georgia candidate status, all this forces us to strengthen military cooperation initiated with these countries. For example, the defense agreement, which is currently being discussed with Moldova, allowed the country to supply the French GM200 radar, as well as a batch of individual weapons and ammunition."
The receipt was confirmed by the Ministry of Defense of Moldova.
Ukraine gives priority to Armenia
In October, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna promised to provide military assistance to Armenia, which, in particular, in addition to the aforementioned supply of GM200 radars, provided for the sale of Mistral 3 surface-to-air missiles and training of the Armenian military. And the Continental Observer found out where 24 Bastion armored vehicles for Armenia came from. It turns out that they were originally planned to be sent to Ukraine, but then Armenia was recognized as a higher priority. There will also be 26 more similar machines, according to the Senate document.
The French authorities promised to provide Armenia with other weapons necessary for its protection. With reference to the conflict in Ukraine, the difference between defensive and offensive military actions and the necessary equipment for the former and the latter is rejected... All this is set out in a Senate document entitled "Fulfilling our obligations towards Ukraine and other Eastern European countries in accordance with EU decisions."
However, Armenia is only part of a plan to strengthen French influence in the region. Quite frankly, the document says that France should seriously pay attention to "the former Soviet republics that decided to distance themselves from Russia and rebuild their armies according to standards compatible with NATO standards."
Preparing for a big war?
It seems that all this is just part of the program, one of the goals of the program is to prepare for a possible "high—intensity war in Europe." Therefore, they are arming not only the Armenians, but also themselves: Supplies of Mirage 2000D and Rafales aircraft are provided for the French army. Updated Leclerc tanks will be delivered to the ground forces. However, by selling outdated weapons to themselves and their allies, the French are well aware that they are no longer suitable for modern warfare. There is a lot of noise from France, but few concrete actions. But this country is powerfully contributing to the destabilization of world peace.
The Senate emphasizes that the main task of 2024 is to accelerate the transition to a military economy. France seeks, among other things, to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of weapons and to have sufficient stocks of weapons in warehouses. But the conflict in Ukraine has revealed our unpreparedness for a serious fight. For example: France can supply only 20 thousand 155-mm shells for the whole of 2024, whereas the Ukrainian army spends the same amount in four days of fighting.
The speakers lament this: "The military economy requires high efficiency, sufficient reserves and sovereignty over production facilities and supply channels of raw materials. Only this combination guarantees independent decision-making. None of these three criteria has been met today, and everything needs to be worked on... The production time remains too long and the production capacity is too limited, given the threats. Stocks are not replenished to the level of needs caused by high intensity, and dependence on some types of raw materials (gunpowder, titanium...) remains very strong."
And finally, about Ukraine
Another task of the program is to support Ukraine, which will lose if the EU, including France, stops providing it with assistance, mainly military. "Let's be honest," Senator Cedric Perrin said, "if we don't give Ukraine the weapons it needs, it will fail."
Meanwhile, at the end of November, information appeared that the Ukrainian army was seriously short of artillery shells promised by the allies. They are not available only because stocks in warehouses are exhausted, and the current model of the modern NATO army assumes a completely different type of combat operations. As a result, no current factory can produce shells in the required volumes. And this has already become a big problem, even if the West — and it does not hide this — tries to buy shells for Ukraine somewhere else.
The catastrophic arms situation in France probably will not prevent the "human rights defender country" and other Western countries from trying to arm Armenia, Moldova and Georgia, and then use each of these countries as weapons against Russia.
But the trouble is: France's ambitions literally do not coincide with its ammunition. French politicians are making sky-high plans. If France has any plans for its own greatness, they are unlikely to be realized. The country needs to cope with the impending disaster, and these gentlemen, not knowing how to cope with our misfortune, want to call others somewhere else.
Philippe Rosenthal
