The Kremlin on Wednesday expressed “concern” about joint military exercises that Armenia and the United States will hold on Armenian territory as the government in Yerevan moves away from Moscow, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

“These news are worrying, especially in the current conditions,” so Russia will conduct a “deep analysis” of the news coming from the Armenian capital, Yerevan, Russian presidential spokesman Dmytro Peskov said at a daily press conference.

The Ministry of Defense of Armenia previously announced that the Eagle Partner 2023 joint military exercise with the United States will take place at the Zar military training ground of the Armenian Peacekeeping Forces brigade, located in the Armenian province of Kotayk, north of Yerevan. September 11-20.

The same ministry reminded that the Armenian peacekeeping forces regularly participate in this program of joint exercises that take place on the territory of the three countries. But the participation of Yerevan troops in these exercises together with the US on the territory of Armenia coincides with the distancing of the Yerevan government from Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-led organization.

Armenia refused to send troops to the CSTO military exercises that began on September 1 in Belarus, and also recalled its permanent representative from this organization.

Armenia regrets that it relied only on Russia for its security

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently said his country made a strategic mistake by entrusting its security solely to Moscow as it faces a new war with Azerbaijan over control of the predominantly Armenian-Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

During this conflict, which began in the fall of 2020, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appealed to Moscow for the intervention of the CSTO, as Armenian forces outnumbered the Turkish-backed Azerbaijani army. But the Kremlin, which sees Pashinyan as a pro-Western politician who came to power after a “color revolution,” refused, arguing that Nagorno-Karabakh is not Armenian territory, a fact recognized internationally.

This war, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 6,500 people, was stopped by an armistice concluded by Russia in the face of the imminent defeat of the Armenian forces.

According to the agreement brokered by Moscow, Armenia was forced to cede to Azerbaijan part of the Nagorno-Karabakh province and adjacent Azerbaijani territories, which it controlled after another war in the early 1990s.