French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu will travel to Armenia on Thursday and Friday in Yerevan to strengthen the defense relationship, the day after the pantheonization in Paris of Missak Manouchian, a stateless resistance fighter of Armenian origin.
“France and Armenia maintain a historic relationship of friendship but the defense relationship was not at the level of the intensity of the bilateral relationship
,” indicated his office, which specifies that this is the first visit of a French minister to historic Armenia and the first of a European Minister of Defense in ten years.
In October 2023, France and Armenia signed a letter of intent on air defense which includes a contract for the acquisition of three Ground Master (GM200) radars from Thalès making it possible to detect an enemy aircraft 250 km from distance and a contract for night vision binoculars, equipment manufactured by Safran, which will be delivered on Thursday.
It is also planned that the French armies will organize three mountain combat training courses this year with the Armenians, formerly traditional allies of the Russians and whose army remains of Soviet culture.
“Risk of escalation”
France, which hosts a large Armenian community on its territory, played a mediating role in the conflict for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, the reconquest of which by Azerbaijan in September 2023 caused the exile of some 100,000 Armenians.
Today
“Armenia is facing continuous pressure, including on its border with a form of nibbling of its territory, Armenia is in a logic of defense of its territory and its population and defense cooperation with the France is strictly committed to this objective of helping in a defensive logic
,” assured the ministry.
Yerevan fears that its neighbor, richer, better armed and supported by Turkey, is pushing its advantage and is now trying to connect the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhchivan to its territory by force by encroaching on the Armenian South.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who received Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the occasion of Manouchian's entry into the Pantheon, pointed out on Wednesday a
"risk of escalation"
between Armenia and Azerbaijan after a recent renewal of tension between the two rival countries in the Caucasus.
On February 13, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of carrying out shooting on the border between the two countries which left four Armenian soldiers dead and one injured, according to Yerevan.
The day before, an Armenian shot had injured one on the Azerbaijani side.