Charles Michel welcomes the placement of the European Union mission at the border

"I welcome the placement of the European Union mission on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border," Charles Michel, the President of the Council of the European Union, wrote on Twitter.

"Following the meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and French President Emmanuel Macron, I welcome the deployment of the monitoring mission in Armenia along its border with Azerbaijan. This will serve to build trust and allow the EU to better support the border commissions that will soon be convened in Brussels," he said.

The Armenian Defense Ministry discusses the deployment of the EU mission on the border with Azerbaijan

On October 17, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan received a group of EU technical assessment mission staff, which is expected to be deployed this month on the border with Azerbaijan. 

The Minister of Defense welcomed the mission's visit to Armenia and expressed readiness for cooperation and assistance with its work. 

During the meeting, the main goals and objectives of the mission were presented to the Armenian side. Technical and organizational issues of deploying European observers on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border were discussed.

EU civil mission on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border will last two months 

According to a statement published on October 17 on the website of the European Council, the EU civilian mission on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan will begin in October 2022. It will last a maximum of two months. 

"Armenia has agreed to assist the EU civilian mission along the border with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has agreed to cooperate with this mission. The mission will start in October and last for a maximum of two months," the statement says. As noted, the goal of the EU mission is to build confidence and contribute to the work of the border commissions.

Earlier, a high-ranking EU representative said that while the mission details are not yet available, they are in the process of being agreed upon with the Armenian side. "I can only say that about 40 observers will be deployed at the first stage," the diplomat said, stressing that the first observers will be sent to the border of the two Transcaucasian republics from the EU mission in Georgia. "We are taking staff from our mission in Georgia because of the urgency of the issue," he explained.