2023-10-03 20:23:34
“France will be alongside the Armenian people,” Emmanuel Macron warned during his interview on September 24. Words that are followed by actions.
The head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, visiting Yerevan (capital of Armenia), announced this Tuesday that Paris had “given its agreement” for the delivery of military equipment to Armenia, which wishes to protect from its Azerbaijani neighbor.
“France has given its agreement to the conclusion of future contracts with Armenia which will allow the delivery of military equipment to Armenia so that it can ensure its defense,” declared Minister Colonna during a conference of press in Yerevan.
“Without any spirit of climbing”
She did not specify what equipment was involved but assured that Paris would act “in this area with a spirit of responsibility on both sides and without any spirit of escalation”. She stressed that Azerbaijan, with its oil revenues and Turkish support, had “continuously armed itself to take action”.
Baku won a lightning victory in September over the Armenian separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh, whom Yerevan refused to help for fear of a new war with its neighbor. Armenia, victorious in a first war in the 1990s when the USSR broke up, was defeated in the fall of 2020 in a second conflict with Azerbaijan.
Armenia, Russia’s traditional ally, usually arms in Moscow and Russian troops have a military base there, as well as a peace contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, relations between Moscow and Yerevan are going through a period of tension and Armenia is looking for new partners in the West.
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