EU FMs to consider deploying new Civilian Mission to Armenia

ArmInfo.  The process of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia is of utmost importance for the European Union (EU), as stated by Kaja Kallas, EU  High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to  reporters ahead of a meeting of the organization's foreign ministers.

According to her, the agenda of the  meeting includes matters related  to the establishment of a new EU mission to  Armenia, as well as the  development of relations between Azerbaijan and the EU.

On April 15, it was reported that EU ambassadors in Brussels approved  the decision to deploy a new civilian mission to Armenia. According  to the information, "the mission will strengthen Armenia's resilience  to hybrid threats by providing strategic and practical advice and  support to ministries and security agencies." These consultations  will focus on policy development, identifying and responding to  external information manipulation, cyberattacks, and illicit  financial flows. The mission will also assess the need to develop  Armenia's security capacity so that the country can more effectively  identify and respond to hybrid threats in line with EU methodologies  and standards.

Recall that Radio Liberty previously reported that they had a letter  from Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to Brussels at their  disposal, in which he "requested the deployment of a rapid response  team to Yerevan to counter Kremlin disinformation and Russian  interference in the Armenian parliamentary elections, and then,  possibly, a more permanent civilian mission." In this regard, it was  recalled that the EU deployed a similar team of approximately 20  people to Chisinau during last year's parliamentary elections "to  help the Moldovan authorities identify and counter disinformation  emanating from Russia on social media." It should be added that EU  Chief Diplomat Kaja Kallas previously announced the allocation of EUR  15 million to Armenia to "counter Russian propaganda."