The US is clearly showing increased interest in Armenia. There is no other way to interpret some signals from recent days. Moreover, the emphasis is clearly placed on the military and security spheres. Is Armenia turning away from Russia?
The most recent signal of increased interest came from Washington - US President Donald Trump published on his network "Truth social" this night post in which he called Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan his "great friend and exceptional leader" who fully shared his vision for peace and prosperity for Armenia and the entire region.
Trump's greetings may pass for official courtesies on the occasion of Republic Day, which Armenia celebrates on May 28, but the American president also recalled in his post the recent visit (May 26) of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Armenia, where a number of agreements were signed, including on a joint transit corridor project. This project "will transform the South Caucasus" and will help American energy companies gain access to routes from Central Asia to the United States, Trump wrote.
The package of documents signed by Rubio in Yerevan strengthens Armenia's ties with the United States at a time when Yerevan is moving closer to the EU and away from Moscow, which was until recently considered Armenia's main ally.
Arms supplies, nuclear energy, space
A “Charter for a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Armenia and the United States“ was also signed. The document covers a wide range of strategic areas: from artificial intelligence and space to nuclear energy and arms supplies.
With the document, Washington is committed to supporting an independent and democratic Armenia by expanding military-technical cooperation. We are talking about possible supplies of American weapons, consultations in the field of defense, strengthening cybersecurity and support for the Armenian military-industrial complex.
Armenian military expert from the analytical center "APRI Armenia" Leonid Nersisyan noted in a comment to DW that the military component of cooperation in the field of security is now quite explicitly and clearly indicated. According to him, work in this direction may lead to the fact that after some time Armenia will be able to purchase combat weapons from the United States. “This will certainly be a gradual process, but if today we have reconnaissance drones from the United States under contract, then probably the next deals can be in even more sensitive areas“, the expert emphasized.
At the same time, special attention is paid to the technological sector. Amid Armenia's plans to build a new nuclear power plant to replace the existing nuclear power plant, which provides about 30-40% of domestic electricity consumption, the United States is ready to provide Yerevan with access to its nuclear technologies, including for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), as well as to include the country in semiconductor supply chains.
Economy and logistics
The next important area of Armenian-American agreements is economics and logistics. The parties initialed a framework agreement on the TRIPP project (“Trump's Route“), which was agreed upon during the trilateral meeting in Washington with the participation of the leaders of Armenia, the United States and Azerbaijan in August 2025, one of the goals of which is to establish a transport link between Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan. However, the regional scope of the initiative is much broader. The project aims to transform Armenia, which has been in the grip of a land blockade by neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan for many years, into a transit and infrastructure hub for the region.
Yerevan's plan, as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently put it at a campaign rally, is to transform Armenia from a "dead end of conflict into a crossroads of peace." In this way, the prime minister tried to demonstrate to voters the benefits of his team's foreign policy course aimed at establishing peace with Azerbaijan and Turkey, which until recently were considered Armenia's regional adversaries.
The document envisages the construction of new energy and telecommunications corridors, including the restoration of the Gyumri - Kars railway. This transport artery from the times of the Soviet Union fell into disrepair after its collapse and can now open up a direct exit for Armenia to Western markets through Turkish territory.
The situation is complicated by the fact that this section, as well as the entire railway infrastructure of Armenia, is scheduled to be operated on a concession by the Russian state company RZD until 2038 (with the possibility of extension for another 10 years). Currently, the Armenian side is conducting complex negotiations on the sale of concession rights to a third party, “friendly to both countries”, as the Armenian authorities claim.
This causes discontent in Moscow, which further inflames the already complex bilateral relations. However, the authorities in Yerevan decided to proceed with the independent reconstruction of the destroyed sections of the road leading to the borders with Turkey and Nakhchivan.
The USA and Armenia's rare earth metals
The memorandum of cooperation with the USA also covers the extraction and processing of strategically important minerals and rare earth metals - a completely new direction in the structure of bilateral relations. The United States plans to invest in the Armenian mining industry, to create new supply chains for strategic raw materials needed for the production of chips, batteries and military equipment, thereby reducing the West's dependence on other global players. This is one of the key geoeconomic directions of the Donald Trump administration. The fact that Washington previously concluded similar partnership agreements in the field of key raw materials and minerals with Kiev also fits into this global strategy.
“Today, the whole world has found itself in a kind of race for rare metals, semiconductors and the establishment of new supply routes. Armenia has a truly historic opportunity to become one of the most important nodes of these logistical routes“, emphasized Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, announcing the attraction of large investments in the next six months.
Armenian economist Haykaz Fanyan defines the announced intentions for cooperation in mining as realistic. According to him, the American side's interest in Armenia in this area is mainly due to the deposits of the rare metal molybdenum. In addition, the Armenian deposits are polymetallic, that is, they also contain other valuable elements. “If earlier, due to low prices, the extraction of these metals from the common ore was economically unprofitable, then today, against the background of high world prices, they are becoming an attractive asset“, Fanyan specified for DW.