YEREVAN, September 5. /TASS/. The European Union’s mission working on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border is collecting intelligence data in an effort to counter Moscow, Baku and Tehran under the guise of monitoring activities, Russian Ambassador to Yerevan Sergey Kopyrkin said.
"Many of the risks that Armenia is currently facing could have been mitigated if Yerevan had agreed to the Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO) proposal in September 2022 to implement a set of measures to stabilize the situation on the border with Azerbaijan. These were serious initiatives covering defense assistance, the deployment of a monitoring mission and assistance in the training of border troops. Unfortunately, the Armenian leadership preferred to invite a European Union mission, which is in no way protecting the country’s borders. All it is doing is collecting intelligence data against Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia under the guise of monitoring activities," the diplomat noted in an interview with the "Allies. CSTO" social and political outlet.
According to the envoy, the future of the South Caucasus should be decided by the countries of the region and neighboring partner nations.
"No one from the outside will bring peace and prosperity to our common home. As for ensuring long-term regional security, stability and social and economic development, the collective West’s plans to militarize the region and expand the military and political influence of the EU and NATO here run completely counter to this goal," Kopyrkin pointed out.
The EU's civilian observer mission was launched in February 2023. Over 100 people were tasked with carrying out patrols along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan. On December 11, 2023, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell announced a decision to increase the number of observers from 138 to 209. In January 2024, the Armenian government decided to approve an agreement on the EU civilian mission’s status. The country’s parliament ratified the document in March.