Humiliated by Azerbaijan, Armenia tacks towards the West
Courting the EU and America without alienating Russia is a difficult trick
The European Union boasts of being a regulatory superpower, not a military one. But in its relationship with Armenia it is starting to deploy both sorts of muscle. On July 22nd the EU announced that one of its military-assistance programmes will send aid to Armenia for the first time. The same day it opened visa-liberalisation talks. Meanwhile, American troops were conducting a small exercise with Armenian forces. It was all part of the pivot to the West begun last year by Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister.
Explore more
Europe August 3rd 2024
From the August 3rd 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Emmanuel Macron shows off the gloriously restored Notre Dame
Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever
Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right
The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
The maths of Europe’s military black hole
It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk
Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare