'Army Nation': Military Training Surges In Armenia Amid Invasion Fears

A group receives weapons training in Yerevan on October 19.

On a well-trodden patch of ground in northern Yerevan, this group was one of around 100 people undergoing training from VOMA on October 19. The organization is named with an abbreviation of an Armenian phrase meaning “the art of survival." VOMA's motto, which could be heard chanted by the trainee groups on October 19, is "army nation." 

An instructor speaks with a participant of the weapons-training portion. 

VOMA was founded in 2014, initially with a focus on training outdoor survival skills. After a four-day conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 2016, VOMA began training people in both survival and basic military skills.

 

A young woman undergoes weapons drilling.

Arsen, a young English-speaking spokesman for the group, told RFE/RL the numbers who sign up for the trainings surge after each new flare-up of violence with Azerbaijan. 

A woman is instructed on how to aim her dummy weapon.

The most recent mass sign-up to VOMA came after Baku’s September 19 military offensive, which ended with the complete recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, ending a centuries-old presence of ethnic Armenians in the region.

A group learns to use tourniquets during first-aid training at VOMA on October 19.

Elina, a Dutch national with Armenian heritage, signed up amid disputed reports suggesting an Azerbaijani invasion of southern Armenia is possible in the near future. "I think it's a realistic threat, considering that they've just invaded and taken over [Nagorno-Karabakh],” Elina said in perfect English. She joined the VOMA course because "when you are living in a country that is constantly under threat of war, every citizen should be prepared to protect themselves."

 

Rubber training guns are lined up in VOMA’s training center in Yerevan.

In  2021, Azerbaijan called on the International Court Of Justice to ensure Yerevan shut down VOMA, which Baku claimed was “engaging in the incitement of racial hatred and racially motivated violence targeted at Azerbaijanis."

A group inside the VOMA center is trained in treating a lung wound.

VOMA claims its mission is purely defensive and that it aims to create a "porcupine" of Armenia that would make the country "very painful to touch."


 

A pile of helmets and ballistic vests lies beneath a Soviet-era mural in VOMA’s Yerevan training center.

Arsen laughs when asked about frequent Azerbaijani state media articles targeting the group. “Man, we have our faces on photos in Azerbaijani Telegram channels saying that we're all terrorists," he said. "Our cook here was introduced [in Azerbaijani social media] as an instructor that is a terrorist as well. We laugh a bunch when we see this." But his face hardens slightly at the implications of the hostile PR. “I’m just a bit worried if I can get out of my country [to travel]” he said, "At such a young age, being called a terrorist is not something I like."

 

Volunteers load lengths of timber onto a van at the VOMA training center that will be used to construct bunkers.

Along with training, VOMA is also currently installing bunkers throughout Armenia that will be used in the event of an invasion. The bunkers are built from earth and timber, and in some cases, used truck tires. The group hopes to install thousands of simple bunkers across the country.

 

A photo on a wall in the Yerevan training center shows a training camp held in the mountains of Armenia. 

Arsen says the VOMA courses, which are training thousands of people each year, are key to Armenia’s national defense. "When people come together, you can protect yourselves," he said. "A person can have all the skills in the world, but when they are alone they're nothing. When you’re with a bunch of people gathered together for one purpose -- to protect yourselves and your families -- then you become one big hand that can suffer, and do what needs to be done."