Senior U.S. and Armenian military officials signed a cooperation agreement for 2001 in Yerevan on 13 December, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. The agreement covers 19 "engagement activities" and will help the Armenian military to prepare for possible humanitarian operations and familiarize its top brass with the status and structure of armed forces in the West. An analogous agreement with Azerbaijan will be signed on 14 December. General Charles Simpson, who signed the agreement on behalf of the U.S., told journalists that Washington has no intention of establishing a military presence in the South Caucasus. He also said that the U.S. could participate in an eventual peacekeeping operation in Nagorno-Karabakh only with the consent of the states involved. LF
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