On October 15, the European Council decided to deploy up to 40 EU monitoring experts aling the Armenian side o the international border with Azerbaijan with the objective of monitoring, analysing and reporting on the situation in the region. On October 14, an advanced group of European Union observers arrived in Yerevan, Toivo Klaar, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, reported on his Twitter page.
"The 27 member states acted quickly to respond to Armenia's request. The purpose of deploying the EU mission will be to monitor the situation and help stabilize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan," he added.
On the same day, at a meeting with members of the EU technical assessment mission that arrived in Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, the Secretary of the Armenian Security Council, described the European Union as an additional guarantor of security in the region. The Secretary confirmed Yerevan's readiness to support the mission in all matters. "Grigoryan also stressed the mission's role as an additional guarantor of security in the region. The parties discussed several issues related to the activity of the mission," the Press Service of the Security Council reported.
Moreover, on October 12, Russia decried the European Union’s decision to send a civilian mission to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Commenting on the developments at a press briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, "We see this as yet another attempt by the EU to interfere by any means in the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, to oust our country’s mediation efforts." She continued, "We proceed from the fact that the only key to reconciliation between Baku and Yerevan, the establishment of lasting peace and long-term stability in the region, is the full implementation of the tripartite statements."
"We maintain regular contacts on this issue [of implementing the tripartite statements] with our Azerbaijani and Armenian colleagues," Zakharova added. "We count on taking advantage of the upcoming events in Astana," she concluded.
Earlier, on October 6, Caucasus Watch reported that Armenia agreed to support the EU civilian mission along the border with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan agreed to cooperate with the mentioned mission to the extent it will be concerned.
