Christian group seeks US assistance for Armenia using Ukraine model.

A Call for United States Assistance to Armenia

A group dedicated to aiding persecuted Christians is seeking United States support for Armenia by supplying them with arms, similar to the assistance provided to Ukraine. Philos Project President Robert Nicholson, accompanied by Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, held a press conference before their fact-finding mission to Armenia. While the group has primarily focused on Christian persecution in the Middle East, their attention has shifted to Armenia this year. Nicholson aims to rally support in the United States to encourage the government to directly assist Armenia, including providing them with weapons to level the playing field against their hostile neighbor, Azerbaijan.

The Urgency of the Situation

“The situation is very urgent,” emphasized Nicholson. “It’s extremely urgent and existential. I say that comparatively.” He drew a contrast with Israel, a powerful and well-protected nation facing numerous threats, while Armenia, in contrast, is small, isolated, and lacks U.S. support.

“Armenia is a much smaller country, a much more precarious country, a country that is crushed between some pretty big and, in many cases, malicious players and specifically with respect to its neighbor Azerbaijan,” he continued. “Every day that we were on the ground, there were territorial violations of Azerbaijani troops on Armenian soil.”

Nicholson acknowledged promising signs of the U.S. taking more direct diplomatic steps to assist Armenia but stressed that more needs to be done.

Security Guarantees and Arms Shipments

Highlighting the need for security guarantees, Nicholson stated, “The Armenians inside this territory, first of all, need security guarantees, right? This is the oldest Christian nation facing, for the second time in only about a century, the possibility of genocide. And I think that without those security guarantees, without the United States as a mediator, ensuring that those guarantees are not only there but even more robustly than we might think to place them in otherwise, then that possibility becomes very real.”

Transitioning to the case for arms shipments, Nicholson argued that the U.S. should remove barriers preventing weapon shipments to Armenia. He emphasized that Armenia is not asking for handouts but rather the ability to purchase certain weapons systems to protect themselves.

“Are there reasons why those regulations are in place?” he continued. “[Yes], but I think one of the easiest things that we can do as the United States is help Armenians protect themselves. That’s what they want. We have the ability to help them, and I think that we should do that.”

Clearing the Way for Weapon Shipments

As part of their fact-finding mission, the group aims to outline actions that the U.S. government can take to facilitate weapon shipments to Armenia. Nicholson shared that a member of his delegation asked the Ministry of Defense what their top three desired weapons were, only to receive a list of 13 items. These items range from anti-aircraft systems and missile defense systems to smaller equipment like small arms and communication devices. However, these requests have been denied thus far.

Nicholson explained that the holdup is due to concerns over Armenia’s traditional protector, Russia. “The United States is concerned that whatever weapons it sends to Armenia will fall into Russian hands or the IP will be stolen by Russian engineers,” he said. “Obviously, with the Ukraine war raging, that’s … more acute of a problem than even … before.”

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