Zakharova on Armenian-French arms contract: Paris is provoking  another round of armed confrontation in South Caucasus

ArmInfo.Paris is provoking another round of armed confrontation in the South Caucasus, and it  does it in different ways, and this  is just the next step. This was reported on June 19 during a briefing by spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova in response to a request to comment  on the contract signed between Armenia and France for the supply of French CAESAR self-propelled howitzer  to the RA.

According to her, Moscow has repeatedly spoken about this, and this  is another confirmation of what was said. "The French leadership is  not guided by the interests of Armenia, nor by the interests of any  one nation, nothing like that. Paris seeks to use existing  disagreements, contradictions within countries or between countries  as a tool to achieve exclusively its own opportunistic goals," the  Russian diplomat said.  At the same time, Zakharova clarified that by  "own opportunistic goals" she means not only the personal interests  of the Elysee Palace, but also France as a conductor of NATO  ideology. In her opinion, all this should be evaluated exactly like  this.

On June 18, Minister of the Armed Forces of France Sebastien Lecornu  announced that France will sell CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to  Armenia as part of another arms deal between the two countries (a  155-mm 52-caliber self-propelled howitzer  developed and manufactured  by the French Nexter company). And on June 17, the Armenian Defense  Ministry reported that during the working visit of the Armenian  Defense Minister Suren Papikyan to Paris,  a military-technical  cooperation agreement was signed between the Ministry of Defence of  the RA and the French military-industrial company KNDS.

Notably, on September 27, 2023, then Minister for Europe and Foreign  Affairs, Catherine Colonna , announced the appointment of a French  military attache in Yerevan in order to further strengthen bilateral  defense cooperation. And already in early October of the same year,  France responded positively to Armenia's request for military  assistance amid the threat posed by Azerbaijan. On October 22-23, at  a meeting between  head of the French military department, Sebastien  Lecornu, and Minister of Defense of Armenia, Suren Papikyan, in  Paris, it was announced that an agreement had been reached on the  supply of weapons to Yerevan. At that time, agreements were signed on  the supply of three Thales Ground Master 200 (GM200) radars to  Yerevan and a memorandum of understanding on the supply of Mistral  short-range air defense systems. The second contract referred to  Yerevan's purchase of night binoculars produced by Safran company.  France has already supplied Armenia with 24 Bastion-type light  armored vehicles. In total, Armenia will receive 50 such vehicles.