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.
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.
U.S. and Azerbaijani officials have said weapons fire may have brought down an Azerbaijani airliner that crashed on Wednesday, killing 38 people. The statements from Rashad Nabiyev and White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Friday raised pressure on Russia. Officials in Moscow have said a drone attack was underway in the region that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was destined for but have not addressed statements from aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian attack. The plane was flying from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to Chechnya on Wednesday when it crashed, killing 38 people and leaving all 29 survivors injured.
Aviation experts say that Russian air defense fire was likely responsible for the Azerbaijani plane crash the day before that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured. Azerbaijan is observing a nationwide day of mourning on Thursday for the victims of the crash. Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons yet unclear and crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan. Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball.
