Monitoring Desk
KREMLIN: Moscow and Baku Tuesday criticized the deployment of an expanded European Union (EU) monitoring mission to the volatile border of Armenia with Azerbaijan.
Arch-Caucasus foes Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh border area but have been trying for a peace accord for some now.
The European Union announced last week it had deployed a hundred-member civilian mission for two years to the Armenian side of the frontier.
The decision comes amid growing Western engagement in the former Soviet region viewed by Russia as inside its sphere of influence.
EU’s doubts
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, flanked by his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov told a news conference in Baku that the EU was openly abusing its ties with Armenia and Azerbaijan.
He added that the EU mission was raising doubts in terms of its legitimacy, mandate, functions, and duration.
