POLITICS

Armenia launches joint military drills with the US amid souring ties with old ally Russia

Jul 15, 2024, 9:38 AM

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia on Monday launched joint military drills with the United States, a move that reflects its leader’s efforts to forge closer ties with the U.S. and other Western allies as the country’s relations with old ally Russia sour.

The “Eagle Partner” war games are aimed at increasing interoperability of units participating in international peacekeeping missions, according to Armenia’s Defense Minister Suren Papikyan.

They involve Armenian peacekeeping forces, servicemen of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa, and the Kansas National Guard. It wasn’t immediately clear how many troops were taking part.

The exercises were scheduled to last through July 24.

Russia has been Armenia’s main economic partner and ally since the 1991 Soviet collapse. Landlocked Armenia, which used to be part of the Soviet Union, hosts a Russian military base and is part of the Moscow-led security alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Armenia’s ties with Russia, however, have grown increasingly strained since Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign last year to take the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule there.

Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after a previous round of hostilities in 2020 of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.

Russia has engaged in a delicate balancing act, trying to preserve close relations with Armenia while also maintaining warm ties with Azerbaijan and its main ally Turkey, a key economic partner for Moscow amid Western sanctions.

The Kremlin has been angered by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s efforts to deepen Armenia’s ties with the West and distance his country from Moscow-dominated alliances. Russia was particularly vexed by Armenia’s decision to join the International Criminal Court, which last year indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes connected to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

As the rift with Russia kept widening, Armenia froze its participation in the Russian-dominated security alliance, canceled its involvement in joint military drills and snubbed the bloc’s summits.

In September 2023, Armenia also held the “Eagle Partner” drills, eliciting dismay in Moscow, where officials called the move “unfriendly.”

Politics

Voters arrive and depart precinct 573 at the Rene Janeiro Recreation Center in Shenandoah Park duri...

Associated Press

Trump made gains in heavily Hispanic areas all over the map. Here’s how he did it

MIAMI (AP) — From Pennsylvania to Florida to Texas, areas with high numbers of Hispanics often had little in common on Election Day other than backing Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris for president. Trump, the president-elect, made inroads in heavily Puerto Rican areas of eastern Pennsylvania where the vice president spent the last […]

20 minutes ago

FILE - Supporters of democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican pr...

Associated Press

Democracy was a motivating factor both Harris and Trump voters, but for very different reasons

WASHINGTON (AP) — While inflation and immigration emerged as the dominant themes in this year’s presidential race, another issue was prominent in the minds of voters for both major candidates: the stakes for democracy. Half of voters identified democracy as the single most important motivating factor for their vote. That was higher than the share […]

1 hour ago

Associated Press

Bribery case adds to problems in Mississippi city with water woes and policing disputes

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Bribery and conspiracy charges against the mayor are the latest shock to Mississippi’s capital, where a federally appointed official is running the water system after it nearly collapsed and state police are patrolling parts of the majority-Black city because of white legislators’ concerns about crime. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and […]

8 hours ago

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., speaks to supporters during an election watch party Wednesday, Nov. 6, 20...

Associated Press

Why AP called the Nevada Senate race for Jacky Rosen

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen won reelection early Saturday morning after The Associated Press declared she had beat Republican Sam Brown in a race that turned on Rosen’s strong performance in the state’s two largest counties — Clark and Washoe. With nearly all of the vote counted, the AP called the race […]

8 hours ago

Associated Press

Why AP called Nevada’s presidential race for Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump won his sixth battleground state of the 2024 election early Saturday, beating Vice President Kamala Harris in Nevada. The Associated Press declared Trump the winner after concluding there were not enough uncounted ballots in the state’s strongest Democratic areas to overcome the former president’s 46,000-vote lead over the Democratic […]

9 hours ago

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., reacts to the crowd after speaking to supporters during an election watch...

Associated Press

Democratic US Sen. Jacky Rosen is reelected in Nevada, securing battleground seat

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen won reelection, beating Republican Sam Brown in a tight but unusually quiet race for the battleground state. Rosen, a first-term senator, campaigned on abortion rights and positioned herself as a nonideological politician, a formula that also worked for the state’s senior senator, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, […]

9 hours ago

Armenia launches joint military drills with the US amid souring ties with old ally Russia