The Council of the European Union (EU) on Tuesday appointed Satu Koivu as the new head of the EU civilian monitoring mission in Armenia (EUMA), the Council informed in a press release.

Koivu will take up her respective duties on Friday, taking over from Markus Ritter. Satu Koivu is a Finnish senior police officer with more than 35 years of national and international experience. She has built extensive international expertise through leadership positions within UN and EU missions in the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Namibia, and Cyprus.

Before her appointment as EUMA Head of Mission, she was deployed in the National Police Board of Finland as Chief of Human Resources, based in Espoo, Finland.

“The civilian mission EUMA is an essential component of EU efforts to support peace and stability in the South Caucasus region. The Mission is tasked with observing and reporting on the situation on the ground on the Armenian side of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, contributing also to human security in these areas. The current mandate of EUMA runs until 19 February 2027.

The Mission comprises over 200 international and local staff. EUMA observers and civilian experts come from 25 EU Member States and a third contributing state, Canada,” the press release adds.