U.S. removes Armenia from participants list for upcoming military exercise
The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday removed Armenia from the list of participants for an upcoming U.S.-led military exercise in Europe.
Armenia was initially listed among 26 countries which the Pentagon said will take part in the Defender 23 exercise starting on April 22.
“Approximately 9,000 U.S. troops and about 17,000 troops from 26 allied and partner nations will participate and portions of the exercise will stretch across 10 different European countries,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters late on Wednesday.
A Pentagon report on Singh’s statement was edited on Thursday to exclude Armenia from the list.
In addition to the United States, troops from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom will all take part in Defender 23, the report said.
The Armenian Defense Ministry has yet to comment on it.