Marco Rubio will spend several hours in Yerevan and is expected to meet Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan at the airport, political analyst Suren Sargsyan wrote on his Facebook page while outlining the specifics of Rubio’s expected visit.
“Features of Rubio’s visit:
First, this will become the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to Armenia since Hillary Clinton visited in 2014.
This appears to be a short ‘transit’ visit without an overnight stay. The secretary of state is returning from India and, following the example of Donald Rumsfeld’s 1999 visit, will spend several hours in Yerevan. At that time, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met then-Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan and later President Robert Kocharyan at the presidential residence, expressing satisfaction with both meetings.
Rubio is expected to meet his Armenian counterpart at the airport for 30 minutes, after which a memorandum of understanding will be signed. He may then meet with the prime minister at the government headquarters. If such a meeting does not take place, that would of course be a significant circumstance.
The American agenda in the South Caucasus has two main priorities: implementation of the TRIPP project and tightening pressure around Iran. Incidentally, TRIPP is also viewed in the context of policy toward Iran.
In my opinion, Rubio’s decision not to visit Baku is not accidental from this perspective. TRIPP passes through Armenian territory and largely has the character of an Armenian-American project. Azerbaijan’s position on both TRIPP and Iran is already well known to the Americans, leaving little need for additional clarification. Therefore, I believe the main focus of the talks may center on developments surrounding Iran and the future of TRIPP.
I am sure many are also interested in whether Rubio will openly support the current Armenian authorities ahead of the elections. I consider this possible, but one of the busiest people in the world would certainly not travel to Yerevan solely for that purpose. Another matter is that the authorities will use the visit for public relations purposes, even if Rubio makes no public statements.
More broadly, the U.S. will naturally support any force in Armenia that advances American interests in the South Caucasus, regardless of which political force it is.
I hope Armenia’s authorities will not become involved in any anti-Iranian adventure, because even after becoming involved, the Trump administration has not found an exit strategy corresponding to the situation.”
