The Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday voiced outrage about the European Union-Armenia summit, as well as the visit by President Volodymy Zelenskyy of Ukraine to Yerevan to attend the European Political Community gathering earlier this week.
“Unfortunately, Yerevan continues to try to follow, as I would say, a policy of ‘sitting on two chairs.’ How long it is possible to stay in this position, so to speak, I do not know. But all this, of course, harms the development of our bilateral relations, which are so beneficial for Russia and Armenia,” Yuri Ushakov, an aide to President Vladimir Putin of Russia said Thursday, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
He added, however, that bilateral cooperation is more beneficial for Yerevan than for Moscow.
“In many respects, the favorable situation, in particular in terms of Armenia’s economic development, is associated with this successful development of relations between our countries; in particular, with Armenia’s cooperation within the framework of the EEU [Eurasian Economi Union],” Ushakov added.
The presidential aide recalled that in early April, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had held serious talks in Moscow, “during which all the points were put in their place.”
Calling the EU summit in Yerevan a “political show,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters that the gathering was an over effort to undermine Russia’s influence in the region so that Western forces could advance their own agenda.
Zakharova warned that Armenia will pay the “political and economic” price for siding with the EU against Russia.
Zakharova voiced particular outraged for Zelenskyy’s participation in EPC summit and his implicit threats to disrupt the upcoming Victory Day parade in Moscow with long-range drone strikes.
“Russian society, with deep indignation and bewilderment, not only saw but, above all, remembered the fact that Armenia, which we are accustomed to considering a friendly, fraternal country, served as a platform. For whom? For a terrorist,” Zakharova.
“And no one in Armenia’s current leadership rebuked Zelenskyy,” Zakharova emphasized.
Zelenskyy met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of EPC. He said afterwards that Kyiv and Yerevan are “resuming an active dialogue between our countries.”
The EPC gathering was followed by a separate EU-Armenia summit between Pashinyan and the EU’s two top officials, Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen. The latter declared that the EU’s ties with the South Caucasus nation traditionally allied to Russia are now “closer than ever.”
“After reading the final declaration of the so-called Armenia-EU summit, it becomes clear that the republic, with the approval of its leadership, is being increasingly drawn into alien, aggressively Euro-Atlantic standards and mechanisms,” Zakharova said.
“This course of action by the Armenian authorities will sooner or later lead to Yerevan’s irreversible involvement in Brussels’ anti-Russian line, with all the ensuing political and economic consequences for Armenia,” she added.
“Armenia is included in the plans for the militarization of Europe,” the Russian official said without elaborating.
Zakharova went on to accuse Pashinyan reneging on his pledge to “take no steps against Russia” when he met with Putin on April 1.
Pashinyan on Thursday said that Yerevan’s policies regarding Ukraine are not the same as Moscow’s position on the matter.
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