YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. The European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) increased its patrols along the border with Azerbaijan after the information about the Azerbaijani military buildup and reported its observations to Brussels, EUMA head Markus Ritter told ARMENPRESS after the opening of the EUMA operating base in Ijevan.

“When there were these rumors and information about the buildup of Azerbaijani forces, we increased our patrols alongside the border in these areas and we regularly reported to Brussels what we were seeing. We also made some tweets to calm down the situation to decrease the tensions, and it looks that so far it worked,” Ritter said.

He added that the EUMA Ijevan operating base will enhance the mission’s capabilities.

“Today we opened a forward operating base in Ijevan to cover the Tavush province with our patrols. Until today we covered this province from Martuni, so it was always a long way to go and also it was only possible to make a few patrols. Now, having here a permanently staffed base, we can at day at night go and patrol alongside the borders to Azerbaijan. At the end of this week, we will open our huge headquarters in Yeghegnadzor, because so far we have split our headquarters, one part was in Yerevan, one in Yeghegnadzor. From Friday we will have a unique headquarters there and later we will open in Yeghegnadzor also a forward operating base that will cover the Ararat region to the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhijevan," Ritter added. 

On September 7, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned that Azerbaijan continues amassing troops and military equipment along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and around Nagorno-Karabakh.

On the same day, the EUMA announced that it increased its patrolling activity on the border with Azerbaijan in the Gegharkunik and Syunik Provinces to observe any military developments.