Aug 27, 2026 15:42 pm IST

Opinion | Why India Needs Armenia Now More Than Ever

Armenia has signed defence contracts worth nearly $2 billion with India since 2020.

Aditi Bhaduri Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

India's Defence Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, was recently on an official visit to Armenia, testifying to deepening defence cooperation between the two countries. He held high-level talks with Minister of Defence Suren Papikyan and Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Edward Asryan, discussing expanding defence supplies and potential joint initiatives, while exchanging a document establishing a new framework for direct cooperation between the General Staffs of both armed forces. This marks a structural shift from procurement toward closer operational and staff-level engagement. In their negotiations, attended also by the Indian Ambassador in Yerevan, Nilakshi Saha Sinha, they addressed regional and international security dynamics, highlighting the strategic alignment of both nations regarding South Caucasus stability and cooperation.

The news of the visit was immediately branded by the media as symptomatic of greater subterranean shifts, coming as it did a few days after the announcement of the Mecca Pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, which Bangladesh is also now aspiring to. Even Iran, apparently, has been invited to join the pact, but there is no clarity on this yet.

Since visits like this are planned in advance, it is highly doubtful that the Mecca Pact triggered it. Moreover, such visits are becoming increasingly more frequent. Asyryan was in India earlier this year, while the then Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Anil Chauhan, was in Armenia, where he inaugurated research........

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