The head of Armenia's Defense Ministry said that the U.S. and France are helping the republic's army reforms

TheUnited States and France are helping reforms in Armenia's army. This was stated by the Transcaucasian republic's Defense Minister Suren Papikyan during a press conference on January 15.

"Within the framework of Armenian-American cooperation, exercises, consultations are held, the reform of the sergeant system is underway. We are satisfied with the cooperation: the pace is good, the dynamics is good," the minister said, as quoted by the Armenian edition of Panorama.

The partnership with France is going on in the same vein. Papikyan expressed hope that the cooperation will deepen even more.

In addition, according to the Armenian Defense Minister, the U.S., France and Greece train the Transcaucasian republic's military. An attestation system was introduced for the servicemen, which allowed increasing the salaries of some of them.

The Minister pointed out that 2024 was a successful year for the development of the Armenian Armed Forces and they have adequately fulfilled the tasks set before them.

On January 14, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signed a document on the establishment of a strategic partnership commission. It implies that economic and energy ties between the countries will be strengthened, and cooperation between Yerevan and Washington in the security and defense spheres will become deeper.

Prior to that, on January 9, the Armenian government approved at a meeting a draft law on the beginning of the process of the state's accession to the European Union (EU). Mirzoyan said at the time that Yerevan's relations with the association had been developing "intensively and dynamically" in recent years - for example, it had provided security assistance to the Transcaucasian republic - and expressed readiness to help its economic development.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that it is hypothetically impossible to combine membership in the EU and the EAEU because there are serious differences between the two associations. The Russian presidential spokesman emphasized that Yerevan benefits from cooperation with the EAEU.