MOSCOW. Sept 6 (Interfax) - Armenia's intention to hold a joint military exercise with U.S. forces gives the Kremlin a cause for concern, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
"It, such news, causes concern, especially in the present situation. We will analyze this news in depth," Peskov said after being asked to comment on Armenia's plans to participate in military drills with the United States.
In response to journalists' remarks that Armenia earlier refused to host a military exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in its territory, Peskov said, "We practically answered this question yesterday. There is nothing new to add."
On Tuesday, Peskov said the Kremlin disagreed with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that Russia had allegedly disassociated itself from the process of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and was going to leave the region on its own volition.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Armenian Defense Ministry said Armenian-U.S. joint drills would take place in Armenia from September 11.
The exercise will involve stabilization operations between conflicting parties during peacekeeping missions, the ministry said.
In January, Pashinyan said Armenia saw holding CSTO drills on its territory in 2023 as inexpedient.