Armenia said on Wednesday it will host a joint military exercise with the United States next weeka development for which Russia expresses its concern, reports Reuters.

The Ministry of Defense of Armenia stated that the purpose of the exercise “Eagle Partner 2023” on September 11-20 was to prepare its forces to participate in international peacekeeping missions.

A spokesman for the US military said that 85 American soldiers and 175 Armenians will take part. He said the Americans – including members of the Kansas National Guard which has a 20-year training partnership with Armenia – would be armed with rifles and would not use heavy weapons.

Despite the small scale of the exercise, the Kremlin said it would be watching closely.

“Of course, such news cause concern, especially in the current situation. Therefore, we will analyze this news in depth and monitor the situation,” the Kremlin spokesman said. Dmitry Peskov.

Russia has a military base in Armenia and considers itself the preeminent power in the South Caucasus region, which until 1991 was part of the Soviet Union.

Russia maintains a peacekeeping force in the region as part of the agreement that ended the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, the second since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview to an Italian newspaper over the weekend that Russia has failed to protect Armenia from continued aggression from Azerbaijan. He said Russia’s war in Ukraine meant it was unable to meet all of Armenia’s security needs.