The EU will deploy a Hybrid Rapid Response Team to Armenia to help counter alleged electoral threats in the run-up to the country’s June parliamentary election.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced the news during a press conference following the European Union Energy and Foreign Affairs ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium on March 16.

“Supporting democratic resilience in our neighborhood remains essential. We will not leave Armenia to face foreign interference alone. Democracies under pressure can count on Europe,” Kallas said.

In December 2015, Kallas announced that the Armenian government had requested assistance from the EU, similar to the assistance the EU has provided to Moldova.

On the same day, Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ani Badalyan said that Armenia-EU cooperation in various areas to increase Armenia’s resilience, including countering hybrid threats, is ongoing and has not just begun.

Last week, Armenia’s the Foreign Intelligence Service claimed that it had information that various actors, acting on behalf of an unnamed country’s special services in another country, were trying to exert pressure on individuals of Armenian origin and citizens of the Republic of Armenia who were engaged in economic activities in that country, to carry out actions in support of certain political forces that had submitted applications for participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia.