Aliyev stated about NATO infrastructure on the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia

A NATO infrastructure has been set up on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia under the guise of European Union (EU) observers. This was stated by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on December 18.

"Under the guise of so-called European observers on the border with us, on the Armenian side, NATO infrastructure has been created," he told RIA Novosti.

Aliyev specified that the issue of sending observers was agreed with Baku in 2022. According to him, it was initially agreed to deploy a limited EU contingent for a period of two months, but the mission was extended without agreement with the Azerbaijani side. In addition, the number of observers increased by 200 people, the President concluded.

Earlier, on March 20, the Armenian parliament ratified an agreement between Yerevan and the European Union on the status of the EU civilian observation mission on the border with Azerbaijan. The agreement regulates the activities of the EU mission in Armenia, as well as specifies the functions of the mission on the territory of the republic.

Prior to that, on August 30, Yerevan and Baku signed a regulation on joint activities of the commissions on border delimitation. Later, political analyst Artur Ataev told Izvestia that the peace agreement between the countries does not guarantee a complete cessation of hostilities in the future; the document will only stabilize the situation for a while.

On November 1, Gleb Belyakov, an expert of Polylog Group, pointed out that there is progress in the negotiations between Baku and Yerevan, but there is no breakthrough and the process has been delayed.

Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been aggravated also against the background of disputed ownership of Nagorno-Karabakh. On October 5, 2023, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a declaration recognizing Azerbaijan's borders, which included Nagorno-Karabakh. Despite this, there are still periodic armed clashes on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The EU monitoring mission in Armenia was launched on January 23, 2023. Its objectives were named as promoting stability in Armenia's border regions, building confidence and human security in the conflict zone between Armenia and Azerbaijan and helping normalize relations between the two states. The mission was located in the town of Yeghegnadzor in the Vayots Dzor region of the republic. The number of staff was initially 100.