Vaqif Sadiqov, the head of Azerbaijan’s mission to the European Union (EU), told Politico that the presence of the EU monitors in Armenia near the border with Azerbaijan is worrying Baku, Politico reported.

“This is a bilateral issue between Armenia and the EU, but it is happening a few hundred meters from our own border posts and in a heavily militarized environment where we have Russian border guards, Armenian border guards, Russian regular units, Armenian regular units and, closer to the Iranian border, Iran’s military. Now we also have EU peacekeepers. So we [i.e., Azerbaijan] have legitimate security questions," Sadiqov said.

Sadiqov warned the aforesaid EU mission could be seen as an effort by Brussels to bolster its presence in the South Caucasus.

Speaking to Politico on condition of anonymity, a senior official in the EU’s diplomatic service bemoaned the fact that the aforesaid monitoring mission seems to have soured relations.

“We were hoping for a different scenario with Baku. We are sharing all relevant information on patrols and so on with Azerbaijan because we don’t want any issues,” the European official said.