EU extends Armenia border monitoring mission for two more years - what does it mean?
EU extends Armenia mission
EU monitors will continue patrolling Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan for another two years, until February 19, 2027. The decision was made by EU member state ambassadors in Brussels and later approved by the EU Council.
The extension had been widely expected in Armenia, where the mission has helped stabilize the border. However, it raises questions about its impact on Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks, particularly regarding the pending peace treaty. One key unresolved issue is Baku’s demand to remove foreign presence from the border, referring specifically to EU monitors.
Political analyst Robert Ghevondyan noted that the decision was delayed until the last moment, just days before the mission’s mandate expired, as there were hopes that Yerevan and Baku would reach an agreement.
“The extension suggests that no progress was made on finalizing the peace treaty. It also indicates that there was no agreement on excluding third parties from the border. In short, signing the agreement—at least for now—has failed,” he told JAMnews.
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Monitors under scrutiny in Baku and Moscow
EU observers were deployed along Armenia’s border following the 2022 Prague summit, where Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, mediated by the European Council president and the French president, recognized each other’s territorial integrity.
Initially, the monitors were sent for just two months. Then, in February 2023, their mandate was extended for two years, and the mission’s personnel was expanded.
Since then, several civil observer offices have opened in Armenia’s border regions, conducting regular patrols along the frontier with Azerbaijan.
Baku has consistently criticized the EU mission, primarily because its mandate was extended beyond the initial two months without Azerbaijan’s consent. Officials in Baku also accuse the monitors of “espionage” and claim they are “deliberately provoking escalations.”
In early 2025, Ilham Aliyev expressed frustration over observers watching Azerbaijan through binoculars:
“I don’t want to demonstrate how fast they can run if someone accidentally sneezes on Azerbaijani territory. But, honestly, it’s becoming hard to resist.”
Azerbaijan’s State Border Service regularly releases footage tracking what it calls “Euro-spies” in action.
The EU monitors’ presence has also drawn criticism from Moscow. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS that the European mission “does nothing to protect Armenia’s borders but instead collects intelligence against Azerbaijan, Iran, and Russia.”
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov went even further, claiming that “this is no longer an EU mission—it’s a NATO mission.” His remarks were based on the fact that Canadian observers had joined the operation.
EU keeps mission mandate unchanged
The mandate of the EU monitoring mission remains unchanged. Its presence aims to:
- reduce the number of incidents in Armenia’s border regions,
- lower security risks for local populations, thereby contributing to the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.
The mission’s staffing also remains the same, with 165 international and 44 Armenian personnel.
Observers continue patrolling the entire Armenia-Azerbaijan border. However, they acknowledge that their resources are insufficient to track all border incidents. To report every escalation to EU headquarters, they rely on open-source information and credible eyewitness accounts.
Political analyst Robert Ghevondyan
Political analyst Robert Ghevondyan believes that extending the observers’ mandate has neither brought Armenia and Azerbaijan closer to a peace deal nor pushed it further away.
“Azerbaijan may have hoped that the mandate would expire and Armenia wouldn’t have the courage to keep the mission on its border. But Armenia had the courage.”
He recalls that in response to Baku’s demand to remove third-party presence from the border, Armenia’s prime minister stated that this could be possible in areas that have already been delimited. However, according to Ghevondyan, this proposal was unacceptable to Baku.
The analyst is confident that the presence of EU monitors will continue to help stabilize the situation and reduce the risk of escalation. At the same time, he stresses that Armenia must also do its part. This includes diversifying its foreign policy, reforming its armed forces, and strengthening its economic capabilities.
Azerbaijan and Russia, according to Robert Ghevondyan, will still respond to the EU’s decision:
“I expect another angry statement from Baku and renewed criticism of ‘spies’ from Moscow.”
The political analyst believes that Azerbaijan is not particularly concerned about the movements of the monitors, which it is well aware of. Rather, its priority is ensuring that “the international community recognizes Azerbaijan as the regional hegemon.” He argues that Azerbaijani authorities seek to have all regional processes, including negotiations with both Armenia and Georgia, coordinated through them.
“When the EU and Armenia agree on the deployment of monitors—something with geopolitical significance—without consulting Baku, Azerbaijan becomes uneasy, realizing that it is not being acknowledged as the dominant regional power.”
