© Reuters
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, October 3, 2023.
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France will help Armenia improve its air defenses through the sale of three radars and the conclusion of an agreement on the future supply of Mistral short-range anti-aircraft missile systems, French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecorneau said, Reuters reported.
Paris made the move after Azerbaijan regained control of Nagorno-Karabakh with a sudden military offensive that forced some 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the region.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev warned this month that France’s decision to provide military aid to Armenia could spark a new conflict in the South Caucasus.
“The protection of our skies is absolutely key,” Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan told reporters in Paris. He and his colleague Lecorneau signed a contract for the sale of three radars manufactured by the French arms company Thales, as well as a memorandum of understanding for the future supply of the French Mistral system.
Nagorno-Karabakh: the state is disappearing, the problems are just beginning
In addition, Paris will help train the Armenian Defense Forces and support Yerevan’s efforts to reform and modernize its army, Lecornu said.
France is home to one of the largest Armenian diasporas and the country is trying to show itself as an ally and diplomatic assistant to Armenia, Reuters notes.
This is Papikyan’s second visit to France since the Azerbaijani army regained control of Nagorno-Karabakh on September 20. In addition, today there is a meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Iranian capital Tehran. The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey are also taking part in the talks, the aim of which is to make progress towards the conclusion of a peace agreement.
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