The European Union's goal when sending a mission to Armenia is to gain foothold in the post-Soviet space, taking advantage of the results of Moscow-brokered normalization of ties between Yerevan and Baku, Kirill Logvinov, the acting head of the Russian mission to the EU, told Sputnik
BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 08th March, 2023) The European Union's goal when sending a mission to Armenia is to gain foothold in the post-Soviet space, taking advantage of the results of Moscow-brokered normalization of ties between Yerevan and Baku, Kirill Logvinov, the acting head of the Russian mission to the EU, told Sputnik.
"This is nothing but Brussels' attempt to gain foothold in the post-Soviet space using the results of the normalization between Armenia and Azerbaijan achieved with Russia's mediation, playing some kind of a mediator," Logvinov said.
The envoy expressed certainty that there was as well a "significant anti-Russian component" which is to neutralize the "historical role of Russia as a security guarantor" in the region.
On February 20, the EU announced the start of its civil mission on the Armenian side of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The mission was officially established by the decision of the EU Council on January 23 at Yerevan's request after an escalation on the border. The declared purpose of the mission is to promote stability in the border regions of Armenia and to facilitate conditions conducive to the normalization between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The total number of the mission's exclusively civil personnel will be about 100, including around 50 unarmed observers.
Russia has a peacekeeping contingent deployed on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh under a trilateral ceasefire declaration brokered by Moscow in November 2020, following a 44-day armed conflict between Yerevan and Baku.