In an interview with Radio Liberty on August 28, Markus Ritter, the head of the Civilian Mission of the European Union (EU) in Armenia, stated that from the beginning of the mission, they warned about their expedition a week before. "We inform the special representative of the European Union to tell the Azerbaijani side where we will be in a few days. Still, this method of working is efficient. We have never faced any danger or threat. Our observers do not feel that they are in any danger," he said.

"We are still trying to establish direct contact with Azerbaijani officials. Ideally, one mission goal is to establish direct contact with Azerbaijan and open a liaison office in Baku," Ritter added.

Markus Ritter emphasized, "Both the European Union and I personally would like to meet with one of the officials in Azerbaijan, explain our work here, and talk about our future plans. We discussed with the special representative's office that I should be invited to Baku and hold discussions. However, I have not received an invitation yet."

"This mission was created in a short period of time, and it took some time to prepare and acquire equipment for such a mission to be operational. We haven't been able to arrange everything we need. But we already knew it would be difficult. Besides, we did not know the area well, and we were not familiar with the conditions in the mountains. Our mission members have already learned a lot. We faced obstacles in the beginning. But now we have no other serious difficulties. We have two years ahead of us. A strategic review will be held early next year. The positive and negative sides of our activity will be analyzed, we will make our own proposals, and we will talk with our partners," the official said.