European External Action Service (EEAS) spokesperson Peter Stano refuted claims made by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) regarding alleged Western interference in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process. The FSB’s director, Alexander Bortnikov, alleged that the West is pressuring Armenia to delay peace talks with Azerbaijan and intends to deploy a NATO contingent in the South Caucasus. Stano called these allegations “nonsense,” rejecting any suggestion that the West is hindering the peace process or planning a NATO presence in the region.

“These comments are full of nonsense and the usual lies and manipulations typical for the Russian regime that tries to cover its repeated failures to deliver on its promises and commitments to Armenia,” Stano said.

Alexander Bortnikov, the head of FSB, accused the US and the EU of having little genuine interest in achieving peace in the region. Bortnikov claimed that by pressuring Yerevan to postpone negotiations with Baku, the West aims to take control of the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan and facilitate the deployment of its own “peacekeeping” forces, which he characterized as a UN presence in name but NATO in practice.

“The possible nature of such ‘peacekeeping’ is already indicated by the fact that the so-called ‘independent civilian monitoring mission of the EU,’ stationed on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, carries out intelligence activities in the interests of a specific NATO country against Russia and our partners,” the FSB head highlighted.