The EU monitoring mission in Armenia has already had good start, and they are doing as much as they can within their limited capabilities. German ambassador to Armenia Victor Richter stated this in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am. Below is the text of this interview.
Mr. Ambassador, for several months now, the civilian monitoring mission of the European Union has been deployed in Armenia, the head of which is a German. How would you rate the activity of the mission?
I think that the humanitarian mission has already had a good start. So they're in the phase of filling up the personnel in the phase of recruitment. But they're already operational since it's a couple of months. So they are making their monitoring tours in the territory which is under their mandate and have established many contacts with the administrations, with the local populations. So they are building up a good communication and building up trust and confidence for the people which are living in that region. And I think this is one of the also main tasks of this mission to stabilize the situation and to build confidence.
What are they exactly doing?
As far as I know, they are constantly visiting villages which are close to the border. They are having discussions and contact with the local populations there, are taking up their needs and wishes and trying to create a certain level of trust that the situation is stable and that they are monitoring the situation as a whole.
Have they already made any reports?
They're reporting to Brussels.
How often do they submit reports?
I don't know. I cannot tell you details. So they're reporting to Brussels and then there's a further distribution, which is under the authority of Brussels of the EU authorities there. So we as embassies are not involved in operational issues. That's why I cannot tell you too much detail.
How many observers are there now in the mission?
So at the end there will be more than one hundred. So as far as I know, they have reached now more than a half of that, and it's steadily going up.
Mr. Ambassador, we do not really see the reflection of those reports in the statements by the officials of the European Union; even after the last border tension, as a result of which there was one casualty on the Armenian side.
Yeah, I think there is a communication between the European Union authorities and also Armenia, of course, also with the member states, with the states that are involved also here in the region. And they are doing as much as they can within their limited capabilities with only 50 now and will be 100. So that's a big border line. That's the whole line of the border under their mandate; with Azerbaijan also to Nakhchivan. That's why they cannot be everywhere every time. But they try, of course, to be as present as possible physically and also taking into account the security aspect.
They are called to make the region safer with their presence. But for example, the recent border escalations do not indicate a safer region.
They are trying to create, as much as possible stability and security for the situation at the end, as much as a civilian mission can do.
A five-way meeting is expected in Chisinau on June 1, in which [German] Chancellor Olaf Scholz will also participate. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan announced that they have not yet decided whether [President] Ilham Aliyev will participate in that meeting or not. Don't you think that such a statement has a negative impact on Germany's efforts to normalize relations?
I cannot tell you more than which has [been] published by the authorities of the office of [European Council President] Monsieur Charles Michel. So that has been announced, and this is our information that we have.
Olaf Scholz stated that it is necessary to reach a peaceful resolution, not only from the point of view of the territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also from the point of view of the self-determination of the citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh. How do you see the solution of the Karabakh problem?
So, I cannot add additional aspects to what has been said by our Chancellor and also by the spokesman person of our government. So, Germany is doing its best to assist this peace process as a whole, which should of course take into account also the interests and the security and the rights of the Armenians living in the former autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Is Germany ready to act as a mediator in case of creation of international mechanisms for dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert, considering that Azerbaijan is against the creation of international mechanisms?
I cannot go into these details because, you know, these negotiations are very confidential; so, I don't know the details.
Thank you very much.