He made the announcement after talks with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikian held in Paris.
“We discussed the situation on the border with Azerbaijan, where hostilities must cease and Azerbaijani forces return to their initial positions,” tweeted Lecornu. “I announced the rapid dispatch of a French delegation to Armenia to assess the situation.”
The Armenian Defense Ministry confirmed this in a statement on Papikian’s visit to Paris. It said the “special delegation” of French military officials will “familiarize itself with the situation on the ground.”
It was not immediately clear whether the delegation will also explore the possibility of French military aid to Armenia. Officials in Yerevan complained about the Armenian army’s lack of modern weapons following two days of heavy fighting on the border with Azerbaijan which erupted late on September 12.
The Armenian and French defense ministers met the day after France’s President Emmanuel Macron received Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Paris. Speaking before the talks, Macron blamed Baku for the hostilities and said Azerbaijani forces must “return to their initial positions.”
According to the presidential Elysee Palace, Macron insisted on “respect for the territorial integrity of Armenia” in a phone call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday. He also told Aliyev that Pashinian is ready to “pursue negotiations on all pending issues” and that France can “contribute to them.”
Meeting with a group of French senators in Yerevan on Wednesday, Pashinian praised “France’s key role in efforts to overcome the consequences of the aggression against Armenia.” He was also cited by his press office as calling for “the dispatch of an international monitoring mission” to the Armenian border areas affected by the recent fighting.