A look from Moscow: Noble Partner 2020 participation in NATO  exercises is yet another manifestation of the pragmatism of the  Pashinyan Government

ArmInfo. The participation of the Armenian military in the NATO Noble Partner 2020 exercises is another manifestation of pragmatism by the government of Nikol Pashinyan. A similar opinion was expressed by ArmInfo, leading researcher at the  Center for Euro-Atlantic Security of the Institute for International  Studies at MSIIR (MGIMO), Sergey Markedonov.

The participation of the Armed Forces of Armenia in the  multinational, international Noble Partner 2020 exercises planned in  Georgia with NATO countries and partners was announced during a visit  to Armenia by Georgian Minister of Defense Irakli Garibashvili.

"By participating in NATO exercises, Yerevan once again proves in  practice an extremely important thesis - the foreign policy of a  small Armenia - an attempt to find a middle ground in relations  between different centers of power. Especially in the presence of a  number of constraints on the development of the NATO vector in  Yerevan. Among them undoubtedly, alliance with Russia is virtually  uncontested due to its profitability for Armenia, "he said.

Nevertheless, the reciprocal steps of Armenia towards NATO, similar  to the participation of Noble Partner 2020, according to Russian  analysts, are another evidence of the impossibility of Yerevan to  ignore this largest military-political bloc in general and the  position of its individual members in particular.  Markedonov sees  this approach of Armenian diplomacy as a manifestation of pragmatism  over the high expectations and illusions that some post-Soviet  countries still experience.

The analyst recalled that Armenia-NATO contacts did not arise after  the government of Nikol Pashinyan came to power. After the "velvet  revolution", Yerevan did not refuse to integrate into the EAEU and  the CSTO; on the contrary, a number of steps were taken towards  strengthening cooperation. At the same time, Armenia, as a member  state of the CSTO, also benefits from partnership with NATO.

According to Markedonov, among them is Yerevan's involvement of all  possible resources providing Armenia with direct or indirect support  from the West. Armenian diplomacy seeks to eliminate the scenario of  the monopolization of Caucasian geopolitics in the eyes of the West  by NATO member Turkey and Azerbaijan, an important energy partner of  the United States and Europe. Meanwhile, Turkey, in turn, in his  opinion, is a limiter to the path of North Atlantic integration of  Armenia.