Agreement signed with US has nothing to do with military aid – Suren Sargsyan

 
Over the years, Armenia has been approaching the status of a strategic partnership with the United States, Suren Sargsyan, an expert on US foreign policy, told Alpha News.

“We have received the status of strategic partnership, taking into account the work that has been done over a long period of time. This is not only the work of the post-revolutionary Armenian authorities. Over the years, Armenia has been approaching this status. We had a platform for strategic dialogue, a platform for strategic partnership. This was clearly the outgoing Biden administration’s initiative, but I do not think that when Trump comes, he will make any changes,” the expert noted.

According to Suren Sargsyan, the United States considers Israel, Great Britain, and a number of other countries its strategic allies, and Armenia is not one of them.

“We should be able to work with the Trump administration to implement under him everything that we signed with our partners in the United States with the Biden administration. The four years of his previous presidency were, of course, not very active for us. That is, we did not show initiative, and the United States did not show much interest in our region either. Let’s hope that we will have more active interaction with the Trump administration.

This document should have been signed, and Armenia should have received this status. In other words, we should have received the status of strategic partnership from the United States, but since the Biden administration is taking the initiative, it was one of the most active in the past 32-33 years. Biden himself wanted to give this process ‘flesh and blood’ and assign Armenia the status of a strategic partner, which the United States did in the case of other countries, for example, Georgia. However, it is important to understand that this agreement, this status, has nothing to do with military assistance or the concept of a strategic ally. The United States considers Israel, Great Britain, and a number of other states its strategic allies, but not Armenia,” Suren Sargsyan concluded.

Earlier, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a charter on strategic partnership between Armenia and the US. The signing ceremony took place in Washington. Before signing the charter, Antony Blinken stated that the US aims to strengthen the protection of Armenia’s sovereignty over its own territory.

“We’re also working with Armenia in the realm of security and defense, and in particular to support its efforts to assert its independence and sovereignty over its own territory. Next month, in the coming weeks, we will have a Customs and Border Patrol team travel to Armenia to work with their Armenian counterparts on border security capacity building, strengthening security cooperation, enhancing Armenia’s peacekeeping capabilities through exercises like Eagle Partner,” Blinken said.