By Alexander Pracht
The European Union’s official for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas has proposed extending the mandate for its observer mission in Armenia through February 2027, according to Radio Free Europe, which has sent an inquiry to the EU for further details.
“Member states have welcomed the proposal and are currently discussing the necessary legal acts with the relevant bodies of the Council of the European Union. The Council’s decision on the extension is expected in the coming days,” Kallas explained.
The EU deployed its civilian observers to Armenia in February 2023 with a two-year mandate after Azerbaijan launched an offensive into Armenian territory several months prior. The mission operates by monitoring and reporting on the situation from the Armenian side of the border with Azerbaijan, as an offer to also operate on the Azerbaijani side was flatly rejected.
The mission’s presence has triggered outrage in Baku, with President Ilham Aliyev and other senior officials denouncing it as a hostile move and repeatedly demanding its removal, even making it one of the preconditions for signing a normalization deal with Yerevan. Russia has also criticized the mission, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov labeling it counterproductive, and the country’s security agency, the FSB, accusing the EU of espionage. Armenian officials maintain that the mission should remain in place until after a normalization deal is finalized with Baku.
Aliyev has repeatedly threatened force against the mission should it cross the border, most recently in an interview earlier this week, and it is known to have come under Azerbaijani sniper fire in August 2023. In response to the Azerbaijani threats, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed an openness to removing the observers from the border, but only in sections that have been officially demarcated.
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