“Russia respects the sovereign right of other states to participate in integration associations and especially their desire to gain additional opportunities for economic development and improve the well-being of their populations,” Vladislav Maslennikov, a senior ministry official, told the official TASS news agency. “However, in the context of Brussels’s strategic course toward confrontation with Russia and the EU's rapid transformation into an aggressive military-political bloc, Armenia's interest in membership in this organization cannot but cause concern.”
“We hope that Armenia, as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), understands the potential negative consequences of a rapid rapprochement with Brussels both for our allied relations and for the development of integration processes in the post-Soviet space,” he said.
Russian officials have regularly issued such warnings since the Armenian government pushed through the parliament last April a law calling for the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union.” Moscow’s concerns rose further following the adoption in early December of a new policy framework for deepening Armenia’s relations with the EU.
The 64-page framework is meant to build upon the Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed by Brussels and Yerevan in 2017. It does not call for the South Caucasus country’s eventual membership in the 27-nation bloc. Nor has Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government submitted a formal membership bid so far.
“The movement towards membership in the European Union cannot be combined with maintaining membership in the Eurasian Economic Union,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on January 20.
The Russian-led trade bloc guarantees Armenian exporters’ tariff-free access to Russia’s vast market. According to Armenian government data, Russia remained Armenia’s most important commercial partner in January-November 2025. It accounted for 35.5 percent of Armenia’s overall foreign trade, followed by China (12.5 percent) and the EU (11.8 percent).
Yerevan maintains that it does not yet intend to leave the EEU. Still, Pashinian said last summer that Armenia will eventually have to choose between the two blocs. Russian-Armenian relations have been strained in recent years amid Pashinian’s efforts to reorient his country towards the West.
Pashinian and his political allies increasingly speak of external “hybrid threats” facing Armenia in the run-up to its legislative elections due in June this year. Lavrov dismissed their implicit claims that Russia is the source of those claims. He accused the EU of encouraging the Armenian authorities to rig the upcoming elections.