“Many Armenians believe there will be a spring offensive by Azerbaijan. If this doesn't happen, our mission is already a success,” Markus Ritter, the German head of the monitoring mission, told Germany’s Deutsche Welle broadcaster this week.
“We cannot interfere, we only have binoculars and cameras at our disposal,” he said.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Ritter’s remarks, saying that they are based on “false and slanderous statements made by the Armenian side.”
The Armenian government did not immediately comment. It has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that Baku is planning a “new military aggression” against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflicting sides have reported this month more frequent ceasefire violations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Karabakh “line of contact.” An Armenian soldier was shot and killed by Azerbaijani troops on March 22.
The deployment in February of the 100 or so EU monitors was meant to reduce the risk of a serious escalation in the conflict zone. Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said last week that the Armenian government has no access to their confidential reports sent to Brussels.
Azerbaijan as well as Russia have criticized the two-year EU mission requested by Yerevan. Moscow said on February 21 that it is part of the West’s efforts to squeeze it out of the South Caucasus.