France is ready to begin deliveries of military equipment to Armenia to beef up its defense capabilities, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on a visit to Yerevan on October 3. Colonna's visit came after Azerbaijan's lightning offensive last month that gave it total control over Nagorno-Karabakh and triggered a massive exodus of ethnic Armenians from the breakaway region into Armenia. Colonna declined to give details but added that she has asked the European Union's chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, to expand the EU mission in the region and proposed including Armenia in an EU peace mechanism similar to that implemented by the bloc in Moldova. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Armenian Service, click here.
France Agrees To Start Delivering Military Equipment To Armenia
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (right) and his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, in Yerevan on October 3