EU to Expand Border Monitoring Mission in Armenia

YEREVAN — The European Union is planning to expand its monitoring mission deployed along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan in February, a senior European official said on Friday.

The diplomat told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the EU will likely approve the expansion in the coming weeks. He could not say how many additional monitors are due to be sent to Armenia.

The mission currently consisting of 100 or so observers and experts was launched at the request of the Armenian government and with the stated aim of preventing or reducing ceasefire violations along the border.

The Azerbaijani takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh has raised more fears in Yerevan that Azerbaijan will invade Armenia to open a land corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan urged Western powers to prevent Baku from “provoking a new war in the region” when he addressed the European Parliament on Tuesday.

“We have made it very clear to President Aliyev and Azerbaijani representatives that we are very concerned by any attempt to infringe on Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said the diplomat. “This is something that we take seriously.”

In his words, the EU is committed to “helping to strengthen Armenia” in addition to continuing its efforts to broker a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan.