Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict 2020
- Thread starter Himanshu
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Georgian authorities have confirmed that France shipped the ACMAT Bastion armored personnel carriers to Armenia through the Port of Poti. APM Terminals Poti confirmed the news to RFE/RL’s Georgian service.
Armenian authorities have not commented on the media reports regarding the purchase of Bastion APCs from France.
According to the French regional daily Ouest France, the Bastion 12.5-ton personnel carriers were initially intended for Ukraine. However, Kyiv considered them "too lightly protected against artillery fire and anti-tank missiles."
The newspaper also reports that France could soon supply approximately fifty VAB MK3 to Armenia.
Initially, footage of the armored personnel carriers being transported via Georgia to Armenia were shared on Georgian and Azerbaijani telegram channels on November 12, 2023, but none of the sides had confirmed the news.
Armenian authorities have not commented on the media reports regarding the purchase of Bastion APCs from France.
According to the French regional daily Ouest France, the Bastion 12.5-ton personnel carriers were initially intended for Ukraine. However, Kyiv considered them "too lightly protected against artillery fire and anti-tank missiles."
The newspaper also reports that France could soon supply approximately fifty VAB MK3 to Armenia.
Initially, footage of the armored personnel carriers being transported via Georgia to Armenia were shared on Georgian and Azerbaijani telegram channels on November 12, 2023, but none of the sides had confirmed the news.
Armenia marks new era with French military purchases
November 28, 2023
After months of speculation and waiting, Armenia’s growing defence partnership with France finally became tangible this month.
On November 12, reports emerged from Azerbaijani sources allegedly showing French-made Bastion armoured personnel carriers arriving in Georgia, at the Black Sea port town of Poti. The vehicles were reportedly destined for Armenia, as part of the first known shipment of French military hardware to the South Caucasian country in its history. Georgia’s foreign minister then confirmed that the shipment of 20-odd Bastions was indeed destined for Armenia.
For Armenia, this was a significant milestone. After its army was battered in the 2020 Second Karabakh War, and with its traditional supplier, Russia, both unable and unwilling to send arms shipments, Yerevan has been desperately seeking other procurement partners. Now, having already established a working defence procurement relationship with India, Armenia is hoping that the current French shipment is only the first step of a long partnership.
The arrival of the armoured vehicles came after long negotiations.
“It’s a result of at least year-long negotiations, if not more,” says Leonid Nersisyan, a defence analyst and research fellow at the Yerevan-based Applied Policy Research Institute. “I think the process actively started after the 2020 war. Relations between France and Armenia were always at a pretty high level, and now with better Armenia-EU and Armenia-US relations, these kinds of deals became realistic,” Nersisyan said.
The first official announcement of French arms sales to Armenia came on October 23, when the two countries’ defence ministers met in Paris. That deal included the transfer of three Thales-made Ground Master 200 air detection radars, along with a memorandum on the future sale of Mistral anti-aircraft missile systems. There have also been other reports that France has shipped, or will soon ship, 50 units of the VAB MK3 infantry combat vehicle to Armenia.
“France is the sole Western actor that has been adequately assessing the situation on the ground in the South Caucasus,” said Tigran Grigoryan, head of the Yerevan-based Regional Center and Democracy. “In Paris, there is an understanding that Azerbaijan poses a serious threat to Armenia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the only viable approach to mitigate the risk of a new escalation is to assist Armenia in restoring its military capabilities,” Grigoryan said.
The 44-day war with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 resulted in heavy losses for the Armenian side. After losing control of the skies in the war’s opening days, Armenian forces were devastated by Azerbaijan’s high-tech, precision weaponry, most notably the TB-2 Bayraktar drone. The open source blog Oryx, which tracks and confirms losses based on public imagery, counts 1,676 pieces of Armenian military equipment lost during the war, including 255 tanks, 250 towed artillery pieces, and 39 surface-to-air missile systems.
There has been little breathing room in the three years since that war’s end, too. Azerbaijan has maintained a belligerent posture, launching assaults on either Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia proper every year since then. In May 2021, barely six months after the 2020 ceasefire, Azerbaijani troops occupied heights in two border areas inside Armenia proper, followed by an assault into southern Armenia that November.
September 2022 saw a full-scale Azerbaijani offensive into Armenia itself, capturing dozens of square kilometres of territory in fighting that saw hundreds of casualties. Finally, just two months ago, a 24-hour assault by Azerbaijan on besieged Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in the effective destruction of the enclave and the forced displacement of its 120,000 inhabitants to Armenia.
Now, there are real fears that Azerbaijan will again attack Armenia itself. In this fraught environment, bolstering the country’s military has become a matter of crucial importance.
Replacing, not to mention upgrading, these capabilities will be an enormous undertaking. Alongside French systems, Armenia has been establishing a relationship with another up-and-coming player in the arms industry: India.
Following numerous reports of contracts signed in late 2022, a number of Indian systems arrived in Armenia in summer 2023, including the Pinaka rocket artillery platform and the 155mm Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (of which 90 units have reportedly been purchased). Numerous contracts for small arms from Indian manufacturers have also been signed, while Armenia will reportedly also purchase anti-drone systems from India’s Zen Technologies.
The capabilities of hardware from each country, as well as the relative prices, dovetail in a way that makes it particularly attractive for Armenia as it addresses its many defence needs, analysts say.
“Indian equipment is important because it could be too expensive for Armenia to rearm only on French equipment,” Nersisyan said. “Armenia needs hundreds of pieces of artillery, not 20 French CAESAR [self-propelled 155mm artillery pieces] that could be the same price. But talking about domains like command and control or air defence – these are the areas where you will definitely see the advantages of top Western technologies. So both [France and India] have a role to play for Armenia,” Nersisyan said.
A major hurdle in the sale of Western military equipment to Armenia had always been the country’s close relationship with Russia. As both a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and a signatory to several bilateral defence treaties with Russia, Yerevan had traditionally relied almost exclusively on Moscow for its defence needs.
But Armenia’s sharp turn away from Russia in the past year or two has reshaped geopolitical realities in the region, analysts say.
“Armenia's attempt to diversify its foreign policy [away from Russia] undoubtedly played a role in facilitating such transactions,” Grigoryan said.
It is meanwhile Russia’s failure to fulfill its arms contracts with Armenia that has led the latter to seek alternate suppliers. Whether due to unwillingness or inability, particularly following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia has not fulfilled an arms order from Armenia reportedly worth up to $400 million signed in 2021. Yerevan is reportedly attempting to make Moscow return the funds for the already-paid contract, which Russia has so far refused to do.
Many are now wondering if Russia’s time as an active arms supplier to Armenia is over for good.
“It’s a good question,” Nersisyan said on whether Russia may be finished as a supplier for Armenia. “With Armenia’s current foreign policy shifts, that could definitely happen. The several hundred million dollars of supplies [from 2021] have not arrived, for both political reasons and practical causes, namely Russia’s war on Ukraine. Nowadays, Russia is only supplying the countries which are politically very important for them, like India, [and Armenia] is not one of these,” Nersisyan said.
The recent French-Armenian announcements go beyond arms supplies, as well. French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu declared during the October press conference with his Armenian counterpart that France would also “help Armenia train ground defence forces and support the country's efforts to reform and modernise its military.” Paris will also be deploying a military attache to its embassy in Yerevan to aid in coordinating trainings and identifying future areas for defence purchases.
“I think that’s probably even more important than the [air defence] radars,” said Nersisyan, of the French training mission. “The French minister mentioned that [France] will help with both training [Armenian] ground forces and with doing some kind of audit of our air defence capacities, helping to understand how to modernise it. So I think that’s a very high value thing, and hopefully the Armenian side will be open to such advise and consultations and will be ready to accept the necessary [reforms],” he said.
While these are important steps, Armenia’s efforts in rebuilding and upgrading its armed forces are still in their infancy. Far more needs to be done to achieve some sort of parity, or at least credible deterrent, with their adversary, Azerbaijan. Change is happening, but its pace leaves questions.
“Changes [in the military] are happening, but slower than they should, I suppose,” said Nersisyan. “There is a serious need to speed that up, because [Armenia] is under serious pressure now and doesn’t have a lot of time. But I expect more deliveries from France in the near future, and from India as well. Procurement is historically the easy part [of upgrading a military], but reforms in command and control – those are more difficult.”
Indopacific: Azerbaijan carried out a destabilisation operation during Sébastien Lecornu's [France’s Minister for the Armed Forces] visit to New Caledonia
Azerbaijan has launched a disinformation campaign against France. After denigrating France's organisation of the Olympic Games, Baku sent "journalists" - who had been put on file by Paris because of their close links with Azerbaijan's intelligence services - to New Caledonia on the sidelines of Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu's tour.
This is a new attempt at destabilisation identified by French intelligence. A month ago, Viginum, an organisation tasked with combating foreign digital interference, pointed to Azerbaijan's role on social networks in an attempt to damage France's reputation in its bid to host the Olympic Games next summer. According to information from Europe 1, a new round in this shadow war between Paris and Baku was played out last week during a visit by the Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, to Nouméa in New Caledonia, who was aiming to boost France's defence strategy in the region.
Two women of Azerbaijani nationality posing as journalists were discreetly screened by the French services on their way to "cover" the minister's tour of the Indo-Pacific.
Refused entry to Singapore
The first, well known to French counter-espionage for her close links with a foreign intelligence service, was allowed to enter in New Caledonia. She went to the demonstration organised by the Union Calédonienne (UC), a political party campaigning for independence, which had organised a rally to denounce the visit of the Minister for the Armed Forces. She has also written articles for Azerbaijan's state news agency, Azertac. "With an anti-France slant", says a source close to the case.
The second woman was placed in a waiting zone and sent back to Singapore, a transit country, for not having a visa, according to a security source. Azertac described the expulsion as an "unjustified deportation of its journalist".
Azerbaijan's interference in French affairs
Diplomatic tensions between Paris and Baku have risen sharply in recent months. France has accused Azerbaijan of "ethnic cleansing" in Armenia. It has also delivered 24 "Bastion" armoured personnel carriers built by Arquus to Yerevan. A further 26 armoured vehicles of this type are currently in production, which is obviously not to Azerbaijan's liking.
Among France's grievances, Baku hosted a round-table meeting with independence fighters from New Caledonia, Martinique and Polynesia in July, on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement ministerial summit, highlighting the "damaging effects of the policies of the French colonial state". Meeting again at the end of October, the meeting led Azerbaijani President Ilam Aliyev to write a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, which, according to the Paris version, was particularly virulent towards France. The same pro-independence activists who last week organised a demonstration against the visit of the French minister.
According to an informed source, these interposed tensions between France and Azerbaijan should come down a notch in the next few days. After months of deadlock, Baku and Yerevan are on the verge of signing a peace agreement. /deepl
Azerbaijan has launched a disinformation campaign against France. After denigrating France's organisation of the Olympic Games, Baku sent "journalists" - who had been put on file by Paris because of their close links with Azerbaijan's intelligence services - to New Caledonia on the sidelines of Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu's tour.
This is a new attempt at destabilisation identified by French intelligence. A month ago, Viginum, an organisation tasked with combating foreign digital interference, pointed to Azerbaijan's role on social networks in an attempt to damage France's reputation in its bid to host the Olympic Games next summer. According to information from Europe 1, a new round in this shadow war between Paris and Baku was played out last week during a visit by the Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, to Nouméa in New Caledonia, who was aiming to boost France's defence strategy in the region.
Two women of Azerbaijani nationality posing as journalists were discreetly screened by the French services on their way to "cover" the minister's tour of the Indo-Pacific.
Refused entry to Singapore
The first, well known to French counter-espionage for her close links with a foreign intelligence service, was allowed to enter in New Caledonia. She went to the demonstration organised by the Union Calédonienne (UC), a political party campaigning for independence, which had organised a rally to denounce the visit of the Minister for the Armed Forces. She has also written articles for Azerbaijan's state news agency, Azertac. "With an anti-France slant", says a source close to the case.
The second woman was placed in a waiting zone and sent back to Singapore, a transit country, for not having a visa, according to a security source. Azertac described the expulsion as an "unjustified deportation of its journalist".
Azerbaijan's interference in French affairs
Diplomatic tensions between Paris and Baku have risen sharply in recent months. France has accused Azerbaijan of "ethnic cleansing" in Armenia. It has also delivered 24 "Bastion" armoured personnel carriers built by Arquus to Yerevan. A further 26 armoured vehicles of this type are currently in production, which is obviously not to Azerbaijan's liking.
Among France's grievances, Baku hosted a round-table meeting with independence fighters from New Caledonia, Martinique and Polynesia in July, on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement ministerial summit, highlighting the "damaging effects of the policies of the French colonial state". Meeting again at the end of October, the meeting led Azerbaijani President Ilam Aliyev to write a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, which, according to the Paris version, was particularly virulent towards France. The same pro-independence activists who last week organised a demonstration against the visit of the French minister.
According to an informed source, these interposed tensions between France and Azerbaijan should come down a notch in the next few days. After months of deadlock, Baku and Yerevan are on the verge of signing a peace agreement. /deepl
Military partnership with Armenia: Emmanuel Macron's gamble in the Caucasus
[LaCroix 23.02.24]After the first contracts signed in the autumn, Paris is confirming its military partnership with Yerevan with the visit of the Minister of the Armed Forces to Armenia on Friday 23 February. The Elysée Palace wanted this rapprochement to break with the mediating stance that France has maintained in the Caucasus since the fall of the Soviet Union.
There are more comfortable ways to travel to Armenia than an A400M Atlas. But the symbolism is there, one more after the WW2 Armenian resistance fighter Missak Manouchian was inducted into the Panthéon the day before. On Thursday evening, French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu landed in Yerevan on board an A400M military transport plane carrying night vision goggles and a procession of defence industry representatives for an official visit, the first ever for a resident of the Hôtel de Brienne. It was a way of embodying the no less unprecedented rapprochement begun in recent months by France and Armenia on the military front, which resulted on Friday 23 February in the signing of new arms contracts and cooperation agreements.
For Paris, this is a response to Azerbaijan's aggressiveness, which has carried out attacks on Armenia's sovereign territory and is keeping a lid on future ambitions to conquer its neighbour's territory. Yerevan accuses Baku of preparing for an "all-out war", which Azerbaijan denies. "Recent incidents in the Armenian region of Syounik [or « Zangezur corridor »] show that the risk of escalation on the ground remains real", says Emmanuel Macron. France's vigilance over Armenia's territorial integrity is all the more appreciated by Yerevan as its relations with Moscow, long its main security guarantor, are at an all-time low.
A turning point for French diplomacy
This military partnership marks a turning point for French diplomacy in the Caucasus. Despite longstanding sympathies for Armenia, France has long maintained a position of neutrality between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been engaged in a territorial dispute for decades over control of the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. This position is linked to France's co-presidency of the Minsk Group, which aims to bring about a peaceful settlement to the conflict. "The whole Franco-Armenian bilateral relationship has been held back by this, even in the cultural sphere," laments an Armenian diplomatic source.This position was shaken up by the resumption of hostilities. In the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan inflicted a heavy defeat on Armenia and recaptured large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh. But it is above all the rise in Azerbaijani attacks against the sovereign territory of Armenia in 2022 that alarms France. “From there, the French general staff understood that the situation had changed,” confirms this same Armenian source. And the invasion of Ukraine signed the death certificate of the Minsk group. » The platform loses all reason for its existence in September 2023, when Azerbaijan regains control of Nagorno-Karabakh by force, pushing its 100,000 Armenian inhabitants into exodus.
A rapid rapprochement between France and Yerevan on the military field then begins. Visiting Armenia on October 3, Catherine Colonna, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that Paris had “given its agreement” to the delivery of military equipment to Armenia. On October 23, Sébastien Lecornu announced the first contracts in Paris: 50 Bastion armored and combat vehicles from the Arquus company, three GM-200 air surveillance radars built by Thalès, and Mistral anti-aircraft missiles from the MBDA group. Speed due to the milestones set in previous months, including the opening in January 2023 of a defense mission in Yerevan, but also prior contacts between French defense industrialists and Armenia, according to an Arquus executive contacted by La Croix.
A rapprochement sought by the Elysée Palace
At the end of November, the announcement materialised when a photo of the first 24 Bastion vehicles appeared, in transit by rail via Georgia. The image, obtained by the Georgian media, embarrassed Tbilisi, which was not keen to alienate Azerbaijan. "We have made it clear to our French partners that this must not happen again", says a Georgian diplomat. This diplomat also expressed concern that these deliveries of military equipment would put off the prospect of a settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict under Western aegis, a hypothesis favoured by Tbilisi.Azerbaijan was quick to make its discontent known. "If new confrontations break out in the region, France will be responsible", Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev fulminated on 7 October. Since then, tensions between Paris and Baku have multiplied. The strengthening of security ties between France and Armenia is also frowned upon by Moscow, which is reproached by Armenia for its passivity in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In Paris, this rapprochement desired by the Élysée also raised some concerns within French diplomacy, with some fearing that this policy would contribute to increasing tensions in the region. “This desire comes from the president. Behind, it follows, but without enthusiasm,” assures an Armenian participant in discussions with the Quai d’Orsay, according to whom France, with Emmanuel Macron, has become “more pro-Armenian than Armenia”.
A partnership set to last
To defuse these fears, Paris insists on the “defensive” attribute of the materials delivered. “It is enough that we do not attack you so that these weapons are not used,” declared Sébastien Lecornu at the end of October. “The executive is distancing itself from Azerbaijan, we are not going to add another layer by saying that it is offensive material,” explains Hélène Conway-Mouret, vice-president of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Senate. But the Armenians use them as they want. » In a report for opinion on the Finance Bill for 2024, of which she is the co-rapporteur, this offensive-defensive distinction is also described as “not very operational” on the ground. Bastion vehicles, for example, are used to transport troops and can be used in support of a hypothetical offensive.The military partnership between Armenia and France is in any case set to continue. Arriving in post in January, a French defense attaché in Armenia will serve as a transmission link between Paris and Yerevan. On Friday February 23, Armenia signed a contract for the acquisition of [Hécate] precision rifles with the French company PGM. In addition to short-range Mistral anti-aircraft missiles, the supply of medium- and long-range anti-aircraft missiles is also possible, said Sébastien Lecornu.
And after ? According to an Armenian source, requests concerning CAESAR cannons* were also made by Armenia during Catherine Colonna's visit in October, and raised again in mid-February during a meeting between the Armenian defense minister and the French ambassador to Armenia. In their report for opinion published in November, senators Hélène Conway-Mouret and Hugues Saury recommended studying the delivery of these powerful artillery systems to Armenia as soon as possible. “Nothing concrete at this stage,” says the Ministry of Defense for the moment. /end
* The Armenians finally opted for your MArG 155-BR, as I understand it. Good choice, congrats
It's not surprising that Russia is letting Armenia down: Azerbaijan, which is not subject to sanctions, buys Russian gas and sells it at a profit (passing it off as Azeri gas).
France recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan “for consultations”
04/16/2024
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs specifies that this decision follows “unilateral actions damaging to the relationship” between France and Azerbaijan.
One more step in the deterioration of relations between the two countries in recent months. France recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan, "for consultations", "due to the continuation in recent months", by Baku, of "unilateral actions damaging to the Franco-Azerbaijani relationship", announced on Tuesday April 16 , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Emmanuel Macron "received our ambassador today on this subject. He regretted Azerbaijan's actions and expressed the wish for clarification by the Azerbaijani side of its intentions", specifies the ministry press release released in the evening. “France reiterates its support for the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, while respecting international law and the territorial integrity of the two countries. This normalization will benefit both countries and the entire region ", continues the Quai d'Orsay [foreign affairs].
The Azerbaijani head of state, Ilham Aliev, criticizes Paris for supporting Armenia in the territorial conflict between Yerevan and Baku over Nagorno-Karabakh. For thirty years, these two former Soviet republics have been fighting over this region. In September, Baku launched a lightning offensive there which led to the capitulation of Armenian separatists./deepl
A comprehensive rundown of the deals with India:
Untangling Armenia’s Indian Arms Procurement
Listen to the article. Your browser does not support the audio element. For Armenia, India, along with France, has become
evnreport.com
This is a very good article, thank you.A comprehensive rundown of the deals with India:
Untangling Armenia’s Indian Arms Procurement
Listen to the article. Your browser does not support the audio element. For Armenia, India, along with France, has become
Armenia launches military drills with US amid souring ties with Russia
The move reflects Armenia's efforts to strengthen ties with the U.S. and other Western allies amid strained relations with old ally Russia.
www.defensenews.com
Russia says Armenia's warmer ties with NATO risk destabilising wider region
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Armenia's tilt towards NATO was a cause for regret and concern, and said Yerevan's actions risked destabilising the wider South Caucasus region. At her regular press briefing, Zakharova said that Armenia's closer...
What use has Russia been to regional stability lately? Started a war in Ukraine, prolonged civil wars in Libya and Syria, helped overthrow democracies in Africa. Great stability.