Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Friday again rejected Russia’s calls to hold soon a referendum on Armenia’s accession to the European Union and said his country wants to remain part of a Russian-led economic bloc for now.
Pashinian also toned down his criticism of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) as he attended a meeting of the prime ministers of EEU member states held in Kyrgyzstan.
“As you know, Armenia adopted in 2025 the Law on the Commencement of the Accession Process of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union,” he said in a speech. “The strategic goal of adopting this law is to create an alternative for our country.
“We understand that simultaneous membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union is impossible. However, the mere fact of adopting this law does not mean that Armenia has a chance to become an EU member today.”
Yerevan, he went on, must first formally apply for EU membership and then receive a candidate status from the 27-nation bloc.
“Without completing most of these steps, holding a referendum on this issue would be meaningless and would mean expecting our citizens to answer a question that simply doesn’t exist at this point,” added Pashinian.
He further insisted that his European integration drive does not contradict Armenia’s obligations to Russia and the three other ex-Soviet states making up the EEU. Russian officials have claimed the opposite ever since the Armenian parliament passed the law in question in April 2025.
As Russian-Armenian tensions rose further this spring, they declared that Yerevan can no longer combine its pro-Western foreign policy with EEU membership essential for the Armenian economy. Moscow went on to essentially ban multimillion-dollar imports of Armenian agricultural products. In a July 27 phone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin again told Pashinian to hold the referendum “as soon as possible.”
Putin first voiced the demand following two European summits held in Yerevan in early May. The presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan backed it in a joint statement with Putin adopted at a May 29 summit boycotted by Pashinian.
The Armenian premier reacted scathingly to that statement in late June. But he said on Friday that he is “grateful to my EEU counterparts for recognizing Armenia’s legitimate right … to create economic alternatives for itself.”
Two days after his call with Putin, Pashinian declared that the Russian sanctions against Yerevan mean the EEU is “paralyzed” and herald “the beginning of the EEU’s end.” He was more cautious in his speech in the Kyrgyz town of Cholpon-Ata, criticizing the “restrictions” but not mentioning Russia by name.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused Yerevan of trying to “blackmail” Moscow and misleading Armenians about economic consequences of its drift towards the EU.
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