Armenia is hosting the first European Union summit in Yerevan. The summit on Tuesday marks a deepening of ties that's been years in the making. The summit underscores Armenia's disillusionment with Russia after Moscow failed to intervene during Azerbaijan's 2023 offensive that ended decades of ethnic Armenian control over the Karabakh region. The Armenian parliament passed a law last year formally declaring the country's intention to seek EU membership. But membership prospects remain distant. Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to the region of failing to stop Azerbaijan's onslaught. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government has moved to pursue closer ties with the West since then.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is in Milan leading U.S. President Donald Trump's delegation to the 2026 Winter Olympics. He told a group of U.S. athletes that the Games are "one of the few things that unites the entire country." Vance, who said the trip is a highlight of his time as vice president, took his family to watch the U.S. women's hockey team beat the Czech Republic 5-1 in a preliminary game on Thursday. After spending the weekend at the Games, Vance plans stops in Armenia and Azerbaijan. It's a show of support for an agreement the two nations signed at the White House last year aimed at ending decades of conflict between them.
President Donald Trump will convene a peace summit at the White House with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The meeting is meant to end decades of conflict and help reopen key transportation corridors across the South Caucasus that have been shut since the early 1990s. Trump says the two leaders will participate in a peace ceremony and sign economic agreements with the U.S. that will "fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region." The Republican president on Friday will first meet with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and then will host Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. All three leaders will participate in a joint signing ceremony in the State Dining Room.
