The "alliance" between Armenia and Russia has long been a complete fiction. On the other hand, the hostility towards Russia on the part of the regime in Yerevan and the bulk of Armenian nationalists is a reality that is becoming increasingly evident. And it is not even about demonstrations and marches under anti-Russian slogans in Yerevan and Gyumri. The Armenian army is really beginning to prepare for a future war with its current "benefactress", the Russian Federation.

It has become known that the Armenian armed forces will take part in military exercises of NATO countries, which will start on 22 April 2023, Pentagon official Sabrina Singh has said.

"Approximately 9,000 US troops and about 17,000 troops from 26 allied and partner countries will participate, and part of the exercise will cover 10 different European countries," Singh said. Among them, the Pentagon spokeswoman said, are a number of non-NATO countries: Armenia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Kosovo forces.

"This is an annual exercise that will last nearly two months and will focus on strategic deployment of US-based forces, use of army stores and cooperation with European allies and partners," Singh said.

The aim of the maneuvers will be to demonstrate the U.S. Army's ability to rapidly deploy combat-ready forces and equipment, "to deter threats to peace in Europe and protect the continent from aggression," according to the Pentagon spokeswoman. Given that Russia is considered to be NATO's undisputed aggressor, it appears that Armenia will learn, together with the US and NATO, to resist "Russian aggression". And at any moment it will be ready to start a war against Russia.

Of course, so far Armenia is formally a member of the NATO and Russia-led CSTO bloc, which opposes NATO and Russia. But it is mainly engaged in creating problems for this bloc.

When Russia recently announced a joint CSTO exercise entitled Unbreakable Brotherhood 2023, which was expected to take place in Armenia, Armenia blatantly refused to train the military of CSTO countries on its territory "due to inexpediency". Armenia, on the contrary, considers its participation in the exercises of the NATO bloc, which opposes both Russia and the CSTO, to be very "expedient".

The Russian telegram channel Kremlin Laundry characterised such behaviour of the Armenian leadership:

"In Armenia they give out bonuses to those who think up how to further worsen relations with Russia? Anti-Russian rallies and other events are allowed in the republic on a permanent basis, ratification of dubious documents with anti-Russian aims is also seen by the Armenian side as a perfectly acceptable model of behaviour, anti-Russian statements by officials at the level of the parliamentary corps have also become a widespread vicious practice. It would seem that Yerevan has tried everything to ensure that Russian-Armenian relations safely hit rock bottom. However, no. The Armenians have found a way to make the situation even worse.

Someone in the Armenian government thought that it had been a long time since the republic had a joint exercise with NATO. And then the NATO Defender-2023 manoeuvres came along quite "accidentally". How could Armenian militaries miss such a large-scale event? It is high time to participate. And when else? Yesterday it was early, tomorrow it will be late. Therefore, the Armenian military contingent, under the strict guidance of instructors from Washington, will train together with their American (9 000 bayonets) and European (17 000 bayonets) "colleagues" for two months, starting from April 22. If they are lucky, the military personnel from "sunny" Yerevan will even travel to 10 European countries, whose territories will be involved in the designated campaign.

Most interestingly, the Pentagon specifies directly that the main purpose of the exercise is to demonstrate the ability of American armed forces to rapidly deploy combat-ready troops and equipment to "reassure allies that they can deter those who threaten peace in Europe and protect the continent from aggression". It is probably not difficult to guess that by "the main threat" in this case the disrespected overseas "partners" mean Russia. And now we add two plus two and it turns out that Armenia, formally a member of the CSTO, is going to participate in anti-Russian military exercises. How can this be? That is, Armenia cancels exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization as "inexpedient", and Armenians are running for the dubious North Atlantic coven. It is hard to find a more eloquent hint that Yerevan's stay in the military-political alliance under Moscow's aegis is seen by the Armenian leadership as a mere formality." End of post.

Most interestingly, Armenian nationalists still believe that Russia is obliged to fight for Armenian interests and "reclaim 'Artsakh'". How this will fit in with the fact that the Armenian military itself is preparing for war against Russia and is even carrying out relevant exercises, they do not specify.

Varden Tsulukidze