The EU launched a civilian mission on the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia

The European Union launched a civilian mission on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It will last for two years.

The press service of the Council of the EU writes about this.

The purpose of the mission is to stabilize the situation on the border, to strengthen trust and security in the border regions, as well as to provide conditions for the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In total, 100 people will work in the mission, 50 of them are unarmed observers.

The headquarters of the mission will be located in the city of Yehegnadzor, Vayotsdzor region of Armenia. The former head of the German Federal Police Department in Stuttgart, Markus Ritter, was appointed as the head of the mission.

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russians have already reacted to this. They noted that in this way the EU wants to "squeeze Russia out of the region."

• On the night of November 10, 2020, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and Presidents of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Russiaʼs Putin signed a joint statement on ending the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which lasted for a month and a half (since September 27). The sides suffered significant losses — thousands of soldiers were killed and hundreds of civilians were wounded during the shelling of cities. In this war, Azerbaijan won 40% of the territory of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, including the city of Shusha.
• In July 2022, Aliyev accused Russia and Armenia of violating the agreements that were spelled out in the declaration on the cessation of hostilities. Later, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Hryhoryan, promised to withdraw troops from Nagorno-Karabakh in September.
• At the end of August, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, confirmed the control of the city of Lachin and the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh. It was the only road connecting the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. In November, after trilateral talks with Putin, the representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia promised "not to use force" during the settlement of the territorial dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
• Meanwhile, the European Union joined the conflict settlement process, as Armenia is dissatisfied with the activities of Russian peacekeepers. In particular, they cannot do anything about the blockade of the only road between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani environmental organizations staged an indefinite protest there and almost completely blocked the road. The European Union sent its civilian mission to the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia and began actively mediating between the countries for the adoption of a peace treaty.