Yerevan /Mediamax/. The European Union Civilian Mission (EUMA) deployed on the Armenian border with Azerbaijan has carried out its 5,000th patrol.

The European Union External Action Service website states that the first patrol was carried out on February 20, 2023.

“Beyond its monitoring activities, EUMA engages actively with local communities. Patrol teams regularly meet with residents and municipal representatives to listen, learn, and report on the human security situation. EUMA monitors visit schools in border areas, where they introduce the mission, it’s activities and EU values guiding them. This approach has helped EUMA to build trust and awareness on the mission and the European Union,” the service noted.

Mediamax notes that German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who visited Armenia last week, met with the head of EUMA, German national Markus Ritter.

EUMA headquarter is located in Yeghegnadzor, and it operates in six Forward Operating Bases located in Jermuk, Yeghegnadzor, Martuni, Kapan, Goris, and Ijevan.

The EU extended EUMA’s mandate for an additional two years on January 30, 2025, until February 19, 2027.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has long expressed dissatisfaction with the activities of the EU’s civilian mission in Armenia and was accusing former and current EU leaders.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in 2024 that he was ready to consider the removal of EU observers from the demarcated sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

EUMA has been deployed in Armenia since February 2023 with 100 observers. In December 2023, the EU foreign ministers decided to expand the mission to 209 observers. Later, a representative from Canada also joined the mission, in response, official representatives of Moscow and Baku announced that EUMA was “turning into a NATO mission.”