Armenia: EU launches partnership mission to support resilience against evolving hybrid threats

Formally established on 21 April 2026, the mission will support Armenia’s capacity to address hybrid challenges, including cyber threats, foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and illicit financial flows. Specifically, the mission will provide strategic advice, technical expertise and institutional capacity building to various national institutions in Armenia to address such threats, and will support a horizontal, whole-of-government approach.

In addition, the mission will provide practical, operational advice and establish a dedicated project cell to implement targeted actions covered by its mandate, in close cooperation with international partners.

EUPM Armenia is a non-executive mission and will have no role in the decision-making processes of the Armenian authorities. EUPM Armenia was established at the request of the Armenian government and is part of a broader and coherent EU approach, combining short and longer-term support to help strengthen Armenian national security.

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As Armenia deepened its relations with the EU, it became a frequent target of Russian Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI).

When Armenian voters renewed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s mandate in the June 2026 parliamentary elections, they did more than choose a government. They chose closer cooperation with the European Union. That choice made them a target ...

Yet Armenia is only part of a much wider story. From Ukraine and Moldova to the Red Sea, the Sahel, and beyond, hostile FIMI actors are increasingly targeting EU missions and operations in a coordinated and often inauthentic manner. These campaigns aim not only to weaken local support for EU engagement, but also to create political conditions favourable to external actors. Their objective is clear – to undermine the credibility of the Union and the confidence in its partnerships and security commitments. The battlefields may differ, but the patterns are largely consistent ...

The launch of EUPM Armenia is more than a success story for the EU and Armenia partnership ... As adversaries continue to weaponise information, strengthening resilience against FIMI will remain critical to ensuring that EU missions and operations can deliver on their objectives and uphold the Union’s role as a credible and trusted global security actor. Protecting the information space is therefore no longer adjacent to security policy. It is now a pillar of national resilience.