In an interview with the TASS news agency, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin also rebuked Yerevan for refusing a similar mission proposed by the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
“Unfortunately, the Armenian leadership chose to invite the EU mission, which does not at all protect the borders of the state and is engaged in collecting intelligence against Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia under the guise of ‘monitoring,’” claimed Galuzin.
The EU monitors were deployed on the Armenian side of the border in February 2023 at the request of the Armenian government and with the stated aim of preventing or reducing ceasefire violations there. The 27-nation bloc decided late last year to increase their number from 138 to 209.
Russia, Armenia’s increasingly estranged ally, has opposed the mission from the outset, saying that it is part of U.S. and EU efforts to drive Moscow out of the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan has also been critical of it.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government has repeatedly defended the mission, saying that it has succeeded in easing tensions along the long and volatile border. It requested the EU deployment after accusing the CSTO and Russia in particular of failing to defend Armenia against Azerbaijani attacks.
In March this year, the Armenian parliament ratified an agreement with the EU that gives the monitors immunity from prosecution, guarantees their freedom of movement inside the country, exempts them and their equipment from Armenian customs checks and bans law-enforcement authorities from searching their offices and vehicles.