Armenia pivots West with EU deals at landmark Yerevan summits

EurActiv
May 5 2026

Armenia pivots West with EU deals at landmark Yerevan summits

Together, the summits signal the clearest break yet from Armenia’s long-standing alignment with Moscow

Politics
Neil Hauer – Euractiv

YEREVAN – Armenia took a decisive step towards the European Union this week, hosting back-to-back summits that delivered fresh agreements, funding pledges and momentum towards visa liberalisation.

The twin gatherings – the European Political Community (EPC) summit followed by a bilateral EU–Armenia summit – marked the highest-profile diplomatic events in the country since its independence in 1991 and underscored Yerevan’s accelerating westward shift under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“This first EU-Armenia Summit elevates our partnership to a new level and sets a clear direction and agenda for the coming years”, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

EU leaders rewarded Armenia’s overtures with a package of political and economic initiatives, including a new EU–Armenia connectivity partnership and steps towards easing travel restrictions. Closer cooperation with Frontex is expected to advance the visa liberalisation process, which began in late 2024 and could eventually allow visa-free travel to the EU for Armenian citizens.

“Europe is the most natural partner for Armenia and the South Caucasus at this moment in time,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday.

The centrepiece announcement was the connectivity partnership under the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, aimed at boosting infrastructure and trade routes linking Europe to Central Asia via the South Caucasus. Armenia is set to play a key role in the so-called “Middle Corridor” – a trans-Caspian trade route linking Europe to Asia while bypassing Russia – with EU investments expected to reach €2.5 billion.

The agreements build on Armenia’s formal commitment to closer integration with the bloc, following legislation adopted in March 2025 launching an EU accession process.

Together, the summits signal the clearest break yet from Armenia’s long-standing alignment with Moscow. In 2013, under then-president Serzh Sargsyan, the country abandoned an EU agreement to join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.

While Armenia still formally remains a member of that alliance, relations with Russia have loosened in recent years. With Russia bogged down due to the war in Ukraine, Moscow slowly began removing troops from Armenian territory.

Last year, Russian forces left Armenia’s only border crossing with Iran, as well as the contested region of Nagorno Karabakh, where Russian peacekeepers had long patrolled to keep fighting between Armenia and its neighbour, Azerbaijan, at bay.

Armenia still hosts Russia’s only military base in the South Caucasus, but the Russian security presence on its territory has been reduced significantly. Russian border guards also left Yerevan’s international airport and stretches of its southern borders with Azerbaijan.

In this context, relations between Yerevan and Moscow turned frosty, as Armenia looked to the EU and the United States for closer cooperation. Russian President Vladimir Putin openly rebuked Pashinyan’s courting of the EU during a face-to-face meeting in Moscow last month.

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