The European Union has offered Armenia and Azerbaijan assistance with border delimitation and demarcations, and support for much needed confidence-building measures following days of tension between the two countries.
A statement issued in Brussels on Friday (28 May) by the spokesperson of the EU said,
"Recent developments on the Armenia/Azerbaijan border are both dangerous and worrying. Immediate de-escalation is needed. The European Union urges both sides to refrain from any further military deployment and actions. All forces should pull back to positions held before 12 May and both sides should engage in negotiations on border delimitation and demarcation. We continue to call on Azerbaijan to release all prisoners of war and detainees without delay. We welcome all efforts aimed at decreasing tensions, including proposals for a possible international observation mission."
"The EU is ready to provide expertise and help on border delimitation and demarcation, as well as to support much needed confidence building measures, in order to move towards sustainable peace and prosperity for the South Caucasus."
Both sides have accused each other of incursions on their territory, and there have been scuffles and incidents between troops and border guards of the two sides during which at least one Armenian soldier died. Russia has announced it was strengthening the deployment of its border guards in Syunik region of Southern Armenia which has been one of the flashpoints of many of the incidents of the last days.