Kremlin accuses Armenia of drift from EAEU commitments

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said that Russia has received an official notification from Armenia confirming that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will not attend the upcoming summit of leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in Astana.

“An official notification has been received from the Armenian side stating that Prime Minister Nikol Vovaevich Pashinyan will not be able to attend the upcoming meeting of leaders of the EAEU countries. Armenia will be represented by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Gerbertovich Grigoryan,” Zakharova said, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

She noted that similar instances of member states’ representatives — including, at times, countries other than Armenia — not participating in EAEU meetings for various reasons have occurred in the past.

“Such situations happen for different reasons. Of course, this is undesirable; it is not what everyone strives for, but it does happen,” she said, adding that the issue is now becoming “a system” allegedly shaped by Nikol Pashinyan in relation to the organisation’s work.

Zakharova stressed that, under established rules, members of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council are expected to take part in meetings.

“There is no tragedy for the union itself; the question is only about Armenia. We prefer to judge by the concrete practical steps of the Armenian government within the implementation of a certain pro-European policy and their impact on Eurasian integration processes,” she said.

She further reiterated Russia’s long-standing position that membership in the EAEU cannot be combined with the introduction of supranational regulatory mechanisms from another integration bloc.

“We have repeatedly said this, exhaustively, at all levels — the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk,” Zakharova said.

According to her, Western European institutions are pursuing what she described as a “destructive policy of illegal sanctions” against countries within the EAEU.

“This is turning into a direct contradiction. It is not because we are against it or because we adhere to a ‘either-or’ principle. We do not. We have always said that cooperation across all directions can be organically combined, until one of the directions — the Western European one — began delivering direct blows to the economy, trade, and finance in the form of illegal sanctions. When this turned into a hybrid war, including in the trade dimension,” Zakharova added.

By Vafa Guliyeva