Moscow views the EU's monitoring mission in Armenia as an attempt to push Russia out of the region, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Earlier, we reported that the General Staff of the EU Monitoring Mission was opened in Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor province.
We have already commented on the decision of the EU Council on the establishment of the EU Mission in Armenia, said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
“Emphasizing the exclusively civic nature of the new mission, the EU representatives are dishonest. It is expanding in the sense of EU General Security and Protection Policy. Therefore, it should be treated accordingly.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that we fix the desire of the EU and the whole West to be strengthened in our ally Armenia by any means. In these attempts, we see a merely geopolitical context, far from the interests of real normalization of the relations in the Caucasus. Everything is being done to push Russia out of the region and to weaken its historical role in the security guarantor. Baku’s publicly expressed negative assessments on this initiative are ignored,” Zakharova said.
According to her, the experience of the European Union’s participation in the settlement of various regional conflicts is not unequivocal. “It is unlikely that Brussels will be able to brag about success in this field. Take, for example, the mediation efforts and the EU mission in the Serbian state of Kosovo. This should be taken into account when assessing the EU's decision on a new mission in Armenia,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson.
She expressed confidence that the package of agreements between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia remains the main factor in stability and security in the region. “The shortest way to improve the situation in the region is through their comprehensive implementation, including unblocking of transport communications, the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the establishment of ties between the parliamentarians of the two countries, as well as the negotiations on the peace treaty. The Russian Federation is ready to contribute to it in every way,” Maria Zakharova concluded.
