DISINFO: France wants to exchange Niger for Armenia
SUMMARY
France wants to exchange Niger with Armenia. The French Defence Minister said that his country is studying Armenia's defence needs. France is only now concerned about Armenia's security issues . Earlier, there were talks between Aliyev and Pashinyan with the participation of Macron, who opposed the efforts of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The desire to support Armenia arises against the backdrop of the withdrawal of the French diplomatic mission from Niger and preparations for the withdrawal of military bases from there.
RESPONSE
The claim is unsubstantiated and designed to drive attention away from Moscow's role vis-a-vis Armenia and its failure to have Russian peacekeepers checking the military escalation leading to the fall Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023.
Since 1992, as co-chairman, France has been a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, which spearheaded the OSCE's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. After the group could no longer function effectively due to disagreements between the Western and Russian co-chairs, France made considerable mediation efforts to continue negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
At the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, the President of the European Council Charles Michel, several meetings between the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan took place. See here, here, and here.
On 24 September, Macron stated that France is keeping a close eye on the territorial integrity of Armenia after Azerbaijan's offensive to take full control of the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Accusing Baku of "threatening" Armenian borders, Macron added that Russia is now "complicit" with Baku while Azerbaijan's ally Turkey "has always been a supporter of its (Azerbaijan's) actions". In response, Maria Zakharova from the Russian Foreign Ministry called Macron's statement a fantasy.
Armenia was subjected to disinformation attacks from Russia after prime minister Pashinyan's statement that Armenia's policy of solely relying on Russia to guarantee its security was a strategic mistake. The main narrative of Russian propaganda is that except for Russia, no one has ever helped and will not help Armenia.