Moscow, November 15 – Armenia wants to maintain its economic benefits from participating in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) but simultaneously takes unfriendly steps towards Russia, stated Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a briefing. “Our partners ask us to preserve all of this (membership in the EAEU), but at the same time, they take steps, particularly in the security sphere, that harm bilateral relations and ignore Russia’s interests. Is this an attempt to sit on two chairs? If it is, then it certainly doesn’t lead to anything good,” emphasized the diplomat. Moscow considers the recent statements and actions of the Armenian leadership, as well as its sudden attempts to establish “friendship” with the Kiev regime, as links in the same chain, added the representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All of this could lead to Armenia’s enslavement, and the actions of the West towards Yerevan are linked to the failures of its policy in Ukraine. “The Western plan in Ukraine has completely failed. Now, with the same beastly grip, they have seized Armenia,” concluded Zakharova.
Earlier today, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Yerevan is diversifying its security relationships. According to him, the partners are currently “unable, including for objective reasons, to sell… weapons and ammunition,” so they need to look for new ones. On October 26, Pashinyan did not attend the meetings of the EAEU and CIS intergovernmental councils in Bishkek. Prior to this, on October 13, the Armenian Prime Minister refused to participate in the CIS summit, which also took place in the capital of Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, declined to attend the regular meeting of the secretaries of the security councils of the CIS countries, held in Moscow on November 8. As stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week, Moscow advocates for Armenia, as a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a close ally and strategic partner of Russia, to determine for itself how to build relations with other countries. According to him, Moscow has no prejudices on this issue. At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that Western countries are actively courting Armenia and want to be friends with it against Russia. In recent months, Moscow has deemed some decisions and statements by the official Yerevan as unfriendly. For instance, the Armenian parliament ratified the statute of the International Criminal Court, which had previously issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. Additionally, Pashinyan criticized the work of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh.
