There is a restaurant in Tsaghkadzor, a ski resort town an hour north of Yerevan, called Dahook. The restaurant specializes in Armenian food served in a lively setting, and in the last few months, many Europeans in their thirties and forties, all dressed in casual wear and not interested in talking about their office work, have been visiting the place. As Hraparak, a newspaper based out of Yerevan that knows how to embarrass institutions, reports, these individuals are members of the European Union Monitoring Mission to Armenia, and having been paid from a budget of €44 million, they spend most of their time in the saunas, restaurants, and other places in Martuni instead of the six Forward Operating Bases on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

There has been no such dereliction, according to the EU. The mission, launched in February 2023 and extended through 2027 with 209 international personnel, has recorded a genuine deterrent effect: border incidents with Azerbaijan decreased significantly after its deployment. That is a real achievement, and one worth noting before the criticisms. But coming right after the EU ambassadors in Brussels gave their approval, on April 15th, for a second parallel civilian mission to Armenia, the timing of the article in the Armenian newspaper seems to bring up a good point that Brussels still hasn't answered yet.

What Brussels is actually sending?

The fresh mission, known as the European Union Partnership Mission to Armenia (EUPM Armenia), differs both in its mandate and nature from the EUMA mission. While the EUMA mission watches out for threats in the border region through binoculars, the EUPM Armenia mission will work within the ministries of Yerevan and its security forces, providing advice on hybrid threats, cybersecurity, information warfare abroad, and illegal finance flows. It would have around 20-30 officers deployed for two years. Final endorsement is expected at next week’s EU foreign ministers' meeting, where the European........

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