Moscow considers Yerevan’s decision to launch the process of the EU (European Union) entry as a start of Armenia’s withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk told reporters, TASS reports.
"They [i.e. Armenia] say that they do not plan to withdraw from EAEU. But what is the specificity of the situation?" Overchuk said. "The fact that Armenia is getting closer to the European Union has long been discussed, but on January 9, 2025, the government of Armenia took a legally meaningful step as it supported the bill announcing the launch of the process of the EU entry. This is the peculiarity of the situation. It was a decision by the Armenian government, and we consider it as a start of Armenia’s withdrawal from EAEU."
"It rests with the Armenian government to take further steps. They argue either that there is no such an issue on the Armenian government’s agenda, or that they do not want or plan to withdraw [from EAEU], or that they will revise where it will be better for them. Let’s see how the situation will unfold," Overchuk added.
"Unfortunately, already last year, we already saw that under the influence of EU membership discussions, Russian business became more cautious regarding the further maintenance and development of economic ties with Armenia," said the Russian deputy PM. "We saw that business activity started to shrink in a number of domains."
