“We will not take any drastic action in relations with Russia,” Pashinian told an election campaign rally in the northern Lori province. “I have truly friendly relations with the president of the Russian Federation. I doubt that the president of the Russian Federation has had more contacts with any other leader since 2018. During this period, we have had more than 200 phone conversations.”

“And in general, our attitude towards Russia is very warm,” he added while alleging that the Armenian opposition is infested with Russian “agents.”

Amid the latest upsurge in Russian-Armenian tensions, Pashinian likewise accused Moscow on Tuesday of “sending agents to Armenia.”

The tensions were exposed during Pashinian’s most recent meeting with Putin held in Moscow on April 1. They rose further after Yerevan hosted on May 4-5 two European summits attended by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Putin said on May 9 that Armenia should choose “as soon as possible” between remaining part of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and striving to join the European Union.

Putin is due to raise the issue at the EEU’s May 29 summit in Kazakhstan that will be boycotted by Pashinian. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said on Tuesday that he will specifically discuss with the leaders of other EEU member statutes “Armenia’s status” in the bloc.

Responding to Overchuk’s statement, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stressed on Wednesday that Armenia cannot be kicked out of the EEU against its will.

“They can always talk, and we can always participate in a conversation on any topic,” Mirzoyan said of the upcoming summit in comments to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “But the issue of leaving the EEU is not on our agenda at the moment. Therefore, that discussion may be very amateurish or philosophical in nature.”

Overchuk also warned that the South Caucasus country can no longer combine its pursuit of EU membership with tariff-free access to the Russian market, a significant discount on the price of Russian gas and other economic advantages offered by Moscow.

Russia accounted for 35.8 percent of Armenian foreign trade last year, compared with the EU’s 11.7 percent share. Citing this and other data, Armenian opposition leaders claim that Armenia will face economic ruin if Pashinian wins the June 7 parliamentary elections

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, underscored the heightened tensions with Yerevan on Wednesday when she expressed shock at Pashinian’s public altercations with disgruntled voters which have marred his election campaign. She said that Western media should pay attention to those voters instead of accusing Moscow of trying to undercut Pashinian.

“That woman who ‘should be grateful’ that, as [Pashinian] said, her head was not smashed in a toilet around the corner, that man – my heart is bleeding, look at that footage – whose grandson died [during military service] and who came to Pashinian’s rally and asked a question, and he was accused of coming there for $550,” Zakharova told Sputnik Radio.

“What does Russia have to do with that? No, it’s not us, it’s Pashinian,” added the official.

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