Armenia Allegedly Transferring Most of Its Air Defense Systems to Ukraine

Yerevan allegedly signed a contract with the European Commission on Aug. 28, worth €210 million ($232 million) to supply Soviet era 152mm artillery and tank ammunition and air defense systems to Kyiv. According to mainstream and social media sources, Armenia was in fact in the process of transferring almost all of its air defense assets to Ukraine via Georgia’s ports.

Following a visit to Armenia by French President Emmanuel Macron in February and with another slated for this month, Yerevan will allegedly receive modern French weapons including the Mistral man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) armored vehicles, Caesar self-propelled howitzers and radar systems in return for making the transfers to Kyiv.

According to reports from Moscow and Azerbaijan, the systems being transferred to Ukraine include an undeclared number of the following:

• S-300 (NATO: SA-10 Grumble) long-range surface-to-air missile systems
• 9K37 Buk (NATO: SA-11 Gadfly) medium-range surface-to-air missile systems
• 9K330 Tor (NATO: SA-15 Gauntlet) low-to medium-altitude, short-range surface-to-air missile system
• 9K33 Osa (NATO: SA-8 Gecko) low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile

In addition, there are suggestions that Armenia is sending OTR-21 Tochka (NATO: SS-21 “Scarab”) short-range tactical ballistic missiles with conventional fragmentation or cluster munition warheads.

Some analysts believe the motivation for this move is as much intended as a baiting of Russia as it is a desire to help Ukraine. Yerevan’s relationship with Moscow has deteriorated steadily since the 2020 44 day Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, in which Russia failed to intervene and worsened even more after Russian peacekeepers failed to prevent the September 2023 seizure by Azerbaijan of the breakaway state of Artsakh and the expulsion of its Armenian minority.

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In November 2023, Armenia ratified the founding Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), although Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has since sought to mend ties by agreeing to attend a BRICS summit in Russia and refraining from critical remarks about Russia. He has also not declared support for the Sept. 5 call by the US and European nations for a special international tribunal to address Russia’s “crime of aggression against Ukraine.”

It remains to be seen how the Kremlin responds to this latest provocation by its former ally.