Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, spoke on the phone on Monday amid growing tensions between Moscow and Yerevan.
With parliamentary elections to be held in Armenia soon, the two leaders agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting in the near future to resolve existing differences.
Putin is particularly unhappy about Armenia’s aspirations to join the EU.
Pashinyan currently rejects a referendum demanded by Moscow, in which Armenians would have to choose between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union. EU accession is still purely theoretical, he wrote on social media, and Armenia will therefore remain in the Eurasian Economic Union for now.
Putin had recently warned that Pashinyan could not sit on two chairs at once and would have to choose between East and West.
Armenia’s rapprochement with the EU has the long-term goal of accession to the union. Russia, however, regards Armenia as part of its own economic and military bloc (the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization).
While wishing Pashinyan a happy birthday, Putin emphasized the traditionally friendly relations between the two countries. At the same time, however, the Kremlin has recently ramped-up the pressure on the Armenian leadership ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election on June 7 through sanctions and threats.
Putin warned unequivocally at a summit in Astana last week against Armenia going down the same path as Ukraine.
Russia has been at war with neighbouring Ukraine for more than four years – a conflict that was triggered, among other things, by Ukraine’s efforts to move closer to the EU.
