RFE/RL – Pashinian Repeats Plans For EU Membership Bid

The Russian Foreign Ministry was quick to scoff at his remarks and accuse him of continuing to mislead Armenians.

“It is clear to me that the process is heading toward us officially applying to the European Union in 2027 or 2028 to initiate the process of becoming its full member, especially given that we have a law currently in effect,” Pashinian told reporters.

The law enacted by Pashinian’s political team in April 2025 declared the “start of a process of Armenia’s accession to the European Union.” Russia maintains that it is at odds with the South Caucasus nation’s continued membership in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

Moscow has been pressuring the Armenian government to quickly choose between the two blocs. Yerevan remains reluctant to make such a choice now, mindful of the Armenian economy’s heavy dependence on Russia.

In May, the presidents of Russia as well as Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan effectively gave Pashinian’s government until December to call a referendum on the issue or face Armenia’s expulsion from the EEU. The issue is expected to be high on the agenda of the next EEU summit also slated for December.

Pashinian on Thursday again dismissed the calls for the referendum and said the authorities in Yerevan “do not intend to withdraw from the EEU.”

“I have stated previously that at the moment there is no subject matter for such a referendum,” he said. “Before holding a referendum on Armenia’s accession to the European Union we would, at the very least, need to go through certain established [EU] procedures.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, dismissed Pashinian’s comments. She said that the Armenian premier is engaging in “linguistic gymnastics” in order to “mislead Armenia’s population.”

“Official Yerevan’s line of reasoning remains incomprehensible to us,” Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow. “After all, even the most basic, common-sense logic dictates that one should first ask for the opinion of one’s own population before taking any action, not the other way around.”

Various Russian officials have emphasized in recent months that Yerevan will no longer be able to “sit on two chairs” to take economic advantage of Russia while siding with the West. Armenia’s main opposition groups also see Pashinian’s pro-Western foreign policy as reckless, saying that he is needlessly antagonizing Moscow without having a real prospect for EU membership in the foreseeable future.

Russia remained Armenia’s number one export market even after blocking imports of Armenian food products and mineral water earlier this year. Armenia also buys the bulk of its natural gas from Russia at a significant discount.