EU experts arrive in Armenia

YEREVAN. Jan 9 (Interfax) - An EU technical assessment mission led by Marcin Vydra arrived in Yerevan to explore the possible deployment of a new civilian mission on the border with Azerbaijan and met with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Monday, the Armenian Foreign Ministry's press service said.

"The team has been posted to Armenia to explore the possible deployment of a new EU civilian mission. During the meeting, the sides discussed the activity of the EU monitoring mission, which was finalized on December 19, 2022. Mirzoyan lauded the role of the EU monitoring mission in bolstering stability in the region and preventing a new aggression against Armenia and expressed the readiness to continue cooperation," the press service said.

The EU monitoring mission to Armenia, launched in October, finalized its mandate on December 19. Based on the agreement between the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, France, and the European Council, the mission was deployed on October 20 along the Armenian side of the border with Azerbaijan with the objective of monitoring and analyzing the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

It was also reported that the Council of the European Union, acting with the consent of the Armenian authorities, decided that the existent EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia will deploy a transitional planning assistance team in Armenia to enhance the EU's awareness of the security situation and will contribute to the planning and preparation of a new EU mission.

However, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said in late December that the deployment of the new EU mission to Armenia along the border with Azerbaijan must be coordinated with Baku.

"Azerbaijan has not yet received any report, any documents about the completion of the EU mission [on December 19, 2022] to the non-delimited border between Armenia and Azerbaijan," Bayramov said then at a press conference. "Azerbaijan must receive information about the subject of the new mission and its geographic coverage, because the mission must coordinate all matters with Azerbaijan. Despite the fact that it will be sent to the territory of Armenia, this matter deals with Azerbaijan's interests," he said.