EU Mission in Armenia Gathers Intelligence Against Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran – Kopirkin

Russia has never abandoned its role as an "honest mediator" in the negotiation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This was stated by the Russian Ambassador to Armenia, Sergey Kopirkin, in an interview with odkb-info.org. According to him, a vivid proof of this is Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent communications with partners, specifically his official visit to Azerbaijan on August 18-19, and subsequent phone calls with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, during which Armenian-Azerbaijani resolution issues were discussed.

"To achieve positive results, Russia has the necessary experience, materials (including cartographic), and appropriate authority in the region. Moreover, unlike the 'collective West', we do not view the South Caucasus as a 'confrontation zone' with anyone. The vast majority of countries in the world already clearly understand the real purpose of the ongoing events – to turn the region into another battlefield of confrontation between Russia and the West, harming our country's interests by any means and at any cost, including human lives," said Kopirkin.

According to the Russian ambassador, the approach of the Russian side regarding the drafting of a peace treaty remains unchanged, as it is recorded in a document signed by Putin. "Of course, the scope and forms of our assistance must be acceptable to each of the parties. In accordance with the tripartite agreements reached, Moscow has successfully provided a platform for negotiations on the draft peace treaty. I emphasize again that we are ready to do this in the future. We guarantee the creation of the most favorable conditions for the work of both delegations in their preferred bilateral format," said Kopirkin.

According to Sergey Kopirkin, the EU mission in Armenia, which operates on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, is engaged in gathering intelligence data under the guise of monitoring in order to counteract Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. "Many of the risks that Armenia faces today could have been mitigated if in September 2022, Yerevan had agreed to implement a set of measures along the CSTO lines aimed at stabilizing the situation on the border with Azerbaijan. These were serious initiatives that included military-technical assistance, the guidance of monitoring missions, and support for training border troops. Unfortunately, the leadership of Armenia preferred to invite the EU mission, which does not protect the state's borders in any way but gathers intelligence data against Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. The fate of the South Caucasus should be decided exclusively by the countries of the region and neighboring partner states. No one from outside will bring peace and prosperity to our common home," stated Kopirkin.