Armenian and Indian Defense Ministries Hold First Defense Consultations in Yerevan

YEREVAN — Defense Ministries of Armenia and India held first defense consultations in Yerevan  highlighting their growing military ties.

The consultations were held under the chairmanship of Levon Ayvazyan, Head of the Defense Policy and International Cooperation Department at the Armenian Defense Ministry, and Shri Vishwesh Negi, Joint Secretary for International Cooperation of the Indian Defense Ministry.

Indian Ambassador to Armenia Nilakshi Saha Singha and Military Attaché, Brigadier General Naveen Nijhawan were also in attendance.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said senior military officials from the two states approved on Tuesday a plan of joint actions for 2024 and 2025 and set up a “working group” tasked with coordinating them. Indian-Armenian military cooperation will involve not only arms supplies but also military education, “tactical training” and “exchange of experience,” it said without going into details.

New Delhi and Yerevan have already deepened that cooperation since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh war during which India’s arch-foe Pakistan strongly supported Azerbaijan. In particular, they have signed multimillion-dollar contracts reportedly calling for the delivery of Indian artillery systems, anti-tank rockets and anti-drone equipment to the Armenian army.

Leonid Nersisyan, a defense analyst with the APRI Armenia think-tank, suggested on Wednesday that India has become Armena’s number one arms supplier. He said the two sides are now “very interested” in going farther.

“One day we may see joint military exercises,” Nersisyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.