Markus Ritter’s unprecedented candor hits both Yerevan and Brussels

You may recall that at that time, the Armenian Ministry of Defense issued an official press release, saying: “On August 15 [2023], around 12:20 p.m., units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire from small arms in the direction of EU observers patrolling in the Verin Shorzha area and a vehicle belonging to them. There have been no casualties.”

The EUMA itself, however, very soon refuted the sensational news, saying that no one had opened fire on their patrol. And now Mr. Ritter says in an interview: “We never have been targeted or attacked by Azerbaijan.” According to Ritter, EUMA staff were on an escorted patrol east of Sotk and witnessed an exchange of fire between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. “The patrol leader called me and said, ‘We are here at the moment and there is an active shooting. Should we stay and witness or should we leave?’” Ritter recalls the events. “I asked them, ‘Are you under attack or not?’ He said, ‘No, we are not under attack.’”

Ritter told them to stay and witness the incident so that they would then report to Brussels. However, Ritter says, around 3 p.m. all EUMA phones started ringing. They got calls from Europe, from the media, from the embassies: “Are you hurt? Are you under attack?” Ritter posted on X and circulated an urgent email, saying: yes, we witnessed a shooting incident, but we were not the target.

Later it became known that the Ministry of Defense of Armenia issued an official press release about Azerbaijan “attacking” a EUMA patrol. According to the head of EUMA, there is a big difference between the patrol witnessing the shooting and being targeted by the attack itself.

But then the Armenian Foreign Ministry told EUMA: “You have been under attack, we have evidence.”

The evidence was a video taken by one of … the mission’s staff. As Ritter now claims, it was a private, unofficial video that the mission staff member wanted to send home: “Look, look, we are under fire here!”

The mission staff member then gave his phone to one of the Armenian escorts and asked them to film him, and the escort somehow (although it is clear how exactly) got hold of a copy of the scandalous video. The next day, EUMA had emergency meetings at the Armenian Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry and confirmed that yes, the patrol had witnessed the shooting, but had not been attacked.

This is one of those cases when one can see the sea in a drop of water. Obviously, a sensational private video could have been used by journalists, but the Ministry of Defense? For an official press release? This is too much. Even for Yerevan’s usual “work ethic”.

Why didn’t the Defense Ministry bother to check with EUMA as to who was the target of the shooting? Understandably, Yerevan really wanted to provoke the European Union to “punish” Azerbaijan, but did they forget about fact checking? Or did they know from the same “escort” that no one had actually attacked the EUMA patrol?

But there are far more questions for Ritter and his “team”. Was it even appropriate for the EUMA staff to make this kind of video, even for private use or “as a joke”? Was it really a “joke with unexpected consequences” or did one of the mission staff members want to “help out the host country”? Why was EUMA’s response to Yerevan’s outright lies so lukewarm and toothless? Lastly, why did Brussels not react to this obvious attempt to pit the EU and Azerbaijan against each other?

Most importantly, what else has to happen for the EU leadership to finally see that further presence of EUMA on the territory of Armenia means too great public image losses for the EU itself?