The United States is engaging NATO forces in the South Caucasus through the European Union (EU) monitoring mission in Armenia. Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), stated this in a press briefing Thursday—and commenting on the Canadian representative joining the EU civilian monitoring mission in Armenia.

"We note the complete ineffectiveness of the EU presence in terms of preventing incidents on the ground. Every day we are more and more convinced of the absence of any positive contribution from the EU in the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan," said Zakharova.

On the contrary, according to her, the EU representatives are engaged in various kinds of provocations, intelligence activities, and propaganda. In Zakharova's assessment, this legitimately causes rejection among the countries of the region, which are united in the fact that any problem arising in the South Caucasus should be resolved in the South Caucasus, for the benefit of all the countries there, and without destructive interference from outside.

"As we understand, the matter of Ottawa joining the EU [monitoring] mission [in Armenia] has already passed to the practical level. A so-called expert arrived in Armenia from Canada the other day. It is not clear what the added value of such a solution is, to what extent it is demanded by Armenians. Let them comment [on the matter]," said Zakharova.

In her view, the most likely thing is that in this situation, the junior partner of the US, the EU, is being used by Washington to draw NATO forces into the region.

"It is obvious that on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, they want not only to expand the possibility of monitoring the situation on the ground, but also to follow their European allies," said the official representative of the Russian MFA.