The deployment of the monitoring mission of the European Union in Armenia will play a crucial role in ensuring local security and stability in the region, as well as in timely and reliable reporting on the current situation to partners in the EU and its member states. RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this in the opening speech of the discussion at the Council of Foreign Relations of Germany.

In his opening speech, the Prime Minister first expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Ralf Nickel, Vice President of the German Council on Foreign Relations, Director Guntram Wolf, and his team for organizing the event. He mentioned that today the world is living in a period when not only natural but also geopolitical tectonic shifts are taking place all over the world. The deepening geopolitical instability, growing tension, and unpredictability weaken the world order and the international security system, creating even greater challenges, especially for Armenia, making the country, which is a democracy in a complex region, more vulnerable.

"We witnessed the first seeds of today's challenges and the collapse of the European security architecture in our region back in 2020 when Azerbaijan unleashed a war against Nagorno-Karabakh.

After the signing of the tripartite statement on November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan not only did not give up its policy of belligerence and threats but also carried out new aggression, this time against the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia in May 2021, November 2021 and September 2022.

During the latest aggression, on September 13-14, 2022, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive targeting Armenia's military and civilian infrastructure using heavy artillery, missile systems, and drones. As a result, the Armenian side suffered 225 casualties, including 3 civilians, and more than 150 square kilometers of the sovereign territories of Armenia were occupied," said Pashinyan.

The Prime Minister noted that today he would not like to delve into the details of the aggressions of 2020, 2021, and 2022, however, according to him, it is impossible to ignore the many cases of torture of captured or already dead Armenian servicemen (including female servicemen), the facts of amputation and other acts of the Azerbaijani armed forces. atrocities.

"The horrifying videos that have been circulated, where the Azerbaijani military commits Islamic State-style war crimes by executing Armenian prisoners of war, must be recognized and addressed by the international community. Another problem is the involvement of mercenaries from Syria by Azerbaijan," the Prime Minister noted.

He reminded that during the September 2022 aggression, when Armenia's external security system failed, Armenia asked to convene an emergency session of the UN Security Council, which took place on September 15, 2022. During the session, the member states of the UN Security Council stated that the use of force is absolutely unacceptable, openly pointed to the aggressor, Azerbaijan, emphasized the importance of observing the norms of international humanitarian law, also emphasizing the fact of targeting civil infrastructures in the territory of Armenia.

"An important step towards the de-escalation of the situation was the quadrilateral meeting of President Macron, President Michel, President Aliyev, and myself on October 6, 2022, in Prague, where an agreement was reached on the deployment of a short-term monitoring mission of the EU along the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

When the mandate of this mission ended on December 19, 2022, at the request of Armenia, the EU Council made a decision to deploy a new, full-fledged civilian mission (EUMA) in the territory of the Republic of Armenia for a period of two years," said the Prime Minister.

Pashinyan, on behalf of the Armenian government, expressed gratitude to the EU and its member states, particularly the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, for supporting Armenia's request.

"The mission started on February 20, and I have already met with the head of the mission, your compatriot Mr. Markus Ritter, who has a lot of experience in the field of international deployment, in Yerevan.

The mission will play a crucial role in ensuring local security and stability in the region, as well as in timely and reliable reporting on the current situation to our partners in the EU and its member states," concluded the Prime Minister.