France plants flag in Russia’s backyard with Armenia arms deals – POLITICO

France wants Armenia to know it has its back — amid increased tensions with its neighbor Azerbaijan and strained ties with its historic ally, Russia, POLITICO reports.

On Friday, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu and his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan met in the Armenian capital to highlight deepening defense links between the two countries.

Lecornu's airplane carried night vision goggles for Armenia, which also signed a contract to buy assault rifles from French company PGM; discussions about purchasing short-range Mistral missiles from European contractor MBDA are moving forward.

"This cooperation, which has been going on for a year and a half now, is of great importance to Armenia. ... We've made progress, which means we can look forward to long-term planning in the years ahead," Papikyan told reporters after the meeting.

"It's an absolute priority for us to help Armenia protect its people ... it's because Armenia needs us right now that we're here," Lecornu added.

That closer relationship with France came as Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday said Armenia has effectively suspended its membership in the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) military alliance.

"Armenia feels betrayed by Moscow after Azerbaijan launched an offensive to retake the breakaway Armenian-inhabited region of Nagorno-Karabakh in September. Russia had a peacekeeping contingent stationed there, which stood aside and didn't interfere," POLITICO says.

"Armenia has also made clear it doesn't support Russia's war in Ukraine. But untangling from the Kremlin's grip is complex; Pashinyan said there was no intention to shut a Russian military base in Armenia," reads the report.