The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, announced the decision late on Monday following a meeting of the foreign ministers of EU member states held in Brussels. He said they agreed to “increase our presence on the ground from 138 staff to 209.”
“The fact that we have decided to increase by such an important number our staff on this mission shows our clear commitment to stability on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and an important contribution to the peace efforts,” Borrell told a news briefing.
He said the expansion of the monitoring mission, approved by the ministers in principle last month, also reflects the EU’s deepening relations with Armenia.
“Armenia clearly sees the benefits of increasing cooperation with us and we are ready to respond positively,” added the EU foreign policy chief.
The mission was launched in February at the request of the Armenian government and with the stated aim of preventing or reducing ceasefire violations along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Russia, Armenia’s increasingly estranged ally, has opposed it from the outset, saying that it is part of U.S. and European Union efforts to drive Moscow out of the South Caucasus.
Moscow has pressed Yerevan to agree to a similar monitoring mission proposed by the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly declined those offers, accusing the military alliance of not honoring its security commitments to Armenia.
The recent Azerbaijani takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh has raised more fears in Yerevan that Azerbaijan will invade Armenia to open a land corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave. Pashinian urged Western powers to prevent Baku from “provoking a new war in the region” when he addressed the European Parliament in October.
Both the EU and the United States regularly voice support for Armenia’s territorial integrity. Unlike Russia, they have condemned Baku’s September 19-20 military offensive that forced Karabakh’s practically entire population to flee to Armenia.