Asbarez: EU’s Armenia Mission to Open 3 Additional Operational Hubs

The European Union’s Mission in Armenia plans to open three additional operational hubs in Kapan, Ijevan and Yeghegnadzor in the upcoming months, EUMA Head of Mission Markus Ritter said Wednesday.

Ritter reported that last week the EU’s Head of Delegation to Armenia, Andrea Wikorin welcomed a delegation from the EU’s working groups on Eastern Europe and Central Asia, known as COEST. The delegation visited Martuni, with Ritter providing a briefing and discussing the mission’s activities.

In the first three months of EUMA’s deployment, a press statement said, the mission conducted more than 300 patrols in total from its operational hubs in Goris, Jermuk and Martuni.

“Every week, the patrols cover more than 3800 km of distance. “The mission was launched in an unprecedented speed, starting its operations this February,” Ritter said.

The mission plans to open the three additional operational hubs in Kapan, Ijevan and Yeghegnadzor in the upcoming months, gradually reaching full operational capability in the near future.

“Our goal is – among others – to contribute to stabilising the security in border areas. And according to numerous Armenian officials, EUMA has contributed to a certain stabilisation of the situation. However, the situation remains volatile,” Ritter added.

EUMA is a non-armed, civilian and non-executive mission with the aim to observe and report to the EU on the security situation on the ground. The mission is deployed on the Armenian side of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, with Headquarters in Yeghegnadzor, six operational hubs (also called Forward Operating Bases) and a small Support and Liaison office in Yerevan.

During the last two incursion by Azerbaijani forces into Armenia’s sovereign territory, the EUMA observers were reportedly not present at the attack sites.