WASHINGTON, September 20. /TASS/. US soldiers will complete a joint military exercise with Armenian forces in Armenia on September 20 as planned, Reuters reported, citing a US military spokesperson.
According to the spokesperson, there has been no change to the 10-day Eagle Partner 2023 exercise.
"We were aware that they [Azerbaijani forces] were conducting operations but we didn't assess there to be any risk to our soldiers at the time and so they remained for the duration of the exercise," the spokesperson said.
The drills involving 85 US soldiers and 175 Armenians are taking place in Armenia on September 11-20.
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the joint US-Armenia exercise would not contribute to stabilizing the situation in the region. He added that Russia would continue to act as a security guarantor in the South Caucasus, remaining engaged in consistent and constructive work with both Yerevan and Baku. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following a G20 summit that Moscow regretted the Armenian leadership’s decision to hold joint drills with the United States.
Karabakh tensions
On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced it was launching what it described as "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the region. Yerevan, in turn, said there were no Armenian forces in Karabakh, calling what was happening "an act of large-scale aggression." Residents of the Armenian capital took to the streets to protest outside the Armenian government building, blaming the country’s leadership and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the situation.
Russia’s peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh announced the evacuation of civilians and called for an immediate ceasefire.
The Russian Foreign Ministry urged the parties to the conflict to stop the bloodshed, prevent civilian casualties and go back to implementing the trilateral agreements adopted by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.