Exclusive: In Armenia, the "door is open" for AI and weapons diversity
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An Armenian flag flutters near the border with Azerbaijan. Photo: Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
Armenia is pursuing "diversification," seeking to shake up its sources of energy, its future artificial intelligence clientele, its supply chain components and the countries it relies on for weapons, ambassador Narek Mkrtchyan told Axios.
Why it matters: Armenia is wedged between Iran and Russia, two of the most pressing national security hazards juggled by the U.S.
- It's also party to a peace agreement, brokered and touted by the Trump administration, that could reshape the Southern Caucasus.
- "A lot of potential was blocked because of the absence of peace," Mkrtchyan said. "Once we bring the peace agenda, prosperity will come."
Driving the news: Axios spoke one-on-one with the ambassador for a little more than a half-hour last week. The conversation kept returning to this idea of diversity.
- "We are making our sovereignty more resilient. We are trying to make Armenia more independent," Mkrtchyan said.
- "More sovereignty means less dependence on one player."
Zoom in: Armenia, long equipped with Soviet weapons, has struck budding relationships with France and India, among other governments. They have provided armored vehicles, artillery and missiles.
Furthermore, the visit of U.S. Vice President JD Vance in February, a first, brought word of a V-BAT deal. The drones, also employed by Japan, the Netherlands and Ukraine, are made by Shield AI.
- "Now the door is open. After decades, we've got this opportunity to have procurement of defense technologies from the U.S.," Mkrtchyan said.
- "This is part of our diversification policy," he added. "We are getting different kinds of technologies from more than seven countries right now, including the U.S."
Yes, but: Such alignment is not meant to spite Armenia's neighbors, according to Mkrtchyan.
- "I want to put one thing clearly," he said.
- "Our cooperation with the U.S., our increased agenda with the U.S., or recent close dialogue with the European Union on different kinds of strategically important topics — all of these discussions and the relations, these are not against Russia, not against Iran, against China, against any other country."
Between the lines: That balance will be increasingly tricky to maintain, as old alliances strain and new blocs, as seen in the Russia-Ukraine war, coalesce.
The intrigue: Mkrtchyan also expressed interest in American small modular reactors and the State Department's Pax Silica initiative, meant to establish a U.S.-led AI and chip supply chain and box out Chinese tech.
- Washington late last year greenlit Nvidia chip exports for a major data center.
- "There is, right now, no sector without AI," Mkrtchyan said. "It can be economy; it can be defense."
Zoom out: Armenia is among the founding members of President Trump's Board of Peace, which featured on its roster strongmen Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus and Viktor Orbán of Hungary.
Go deeper: Azerbaijan wants deeper U.S. ties after Armenia peace deal
