Azerbaijan claims that a clause agreed upon at a Washington Peace Summit will halt the presence of foreign personnel along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border, a development that officials in Baku argue renders the European Union's monitoring mission in Armenia unnecessary and ends what they have derided as "binocular diplomacy."
The claims and context were detailed in an Azerbaijani newspaper, Musavat. The article asserts that a document signed by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and U.S. President Donald Trump includes Article VII, under which the sides pledge not to deploy any third-party forces along their shared border and to implement mutually agreed security and confidence-building measures until delimitation and demarcation are completed.
The EU mission (EUMA) was first deployed on Armenian territory near the border in autumn 2022, initially with 40 personnel before expanding to 209 and receiving a two-year extension this January. President Aliyev has repeatedly criticized the presence as an intelligence network and a threat to peace and stability, telling the XII Global Baku Forum that the "monitoring mission" was an EU intelligence operation. Baku states that it has consistently conveyed its objections to visiting Western officials and in bilateral contacts.
EUMA's origins date back to the October 2022 Prague meeting under the European Political Community, where France, the European Council, Armenia, and Azerbaijan agreed to dispatch a small civilian mission to assist with border delimitation. Azerbaijan accepted its deployment only on the Armenian side of the border. However, Baku later accused the mission of exceeding its mandate, growing beyond agreed-upon numbers, and establishing posts along the length of the frontier from Arazdeyen to Qazakh, focusing on observation rather than providing technical support for delimitation. The article further alleges the effort evolved under French leadership into a de facto NATO-linked presence, including military elements under an American general—claims that EU officials have previously rejected, insisting the mission is strictly civilian.
Russia has repeatedly voiced concerns over the EU's footprint in its traditional sphere of influence, but has taken no decisive steps, the piece notes. Citing Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, it recalls Moscow's view that the West was entrenching itself in Armenia for geopolitical aims and disregarding Baku's objections. Iran, meanwhile, publicly downplayed the mission's significance; Tehran's ambassador to Yerevan, Mehdi Sobhani, described it as non-military and acceptable. Yet the analysis argues Iran harbored private misgivings that any Western presence could one day be leveraged against it.
According to the reported text of Article VII, the Washington understanding obliges both sides to forgo any third-party deployments along the border and to adopt agreed security steps during the remaining period of border work. If implemented, Baku contends, this would undercut the rationale for EUMA's continued presence in Armenia. The article frames Yerevan's consent as an implicit admission that the EU initiative failed to deliver stability and suggests Paris, which championed the mission, should now withdraw it.
As of publication, neither the EU nor Armenia had publicly outlined a timetable for changes to the mission. Practical details on implementation, oversight, and the synchronization of withdrawals with ongoing delimitation remain to be clarified.
Photo: Musavat