EU to send another mission to Armenia

The European Union is planning to deploy yet another mission to Armenia which will be tasked with countering what it sees as “Russia’s destabilizing activities” in the South Caucasus country, RFE/RL reports. Ambassadors of EU member states in Brussels endorsed the deployment on Wednesday, paving the way for final approval, which is expected at a meeting of EU foreign ministers next week.

RFE/RL says it obtained the text of a proposal by the EU’s foreign and security policy chief, Kaja Kallas, outlining the mission’s mandate, structure, and timeframe. Under the document, the mission is intended to “enhance the resilience of Armenia in the field of hybrid threats through the provision of strategic advice as well as operational level advice and support to relevant security sector agencies.”

This assistance will focus on “the development of strategies, policies and protocols for countering hybrid threats, notably Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and cyber, as well as illicit financial flows in the electoral and political context, and enhancing cybersecurity and FIMI resilience.” It will also help identify Armenia’s “needs for capacity building in the security sector for monitoring, early warning, detection, identification, attribution of and response to hybrid threats, including in the area of FIMI and cyber in line with EU methodologies and standards.”

This assistance “should be aimed clearly at reducing and mitigating Russia’s destabilizing activities,” according to the document.

The planned European Union Partnership Mission (EUPM Armenia) is expected to be deployed in Armenia for a period of two years. It will comprise 20-30 personnel on the ground.