Russian Deputy PM calls Armenia’s EU accession process ‘beginning of exit from EAEU’

Moscow considers Yerevan’s decision to launch the European Union (EU) accession process the beginning of Armenia’s exit from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk told journalists, TASS reports.

“They (Armenia – ed.) say that they do not plan to quit the EAEU. But what is the peculiarity of the situation that we have now? Talks about Armenia moving closer to the European Union have been going on for a long time, there were discussions, but on January 9, 2025, the Armenian government made a legally significant step by approving the draft bill on initiating the EU accession process. This is the peculiarity of this situation. It was the decision of the Armenian government, and we consider it the beginning of Armenia’s exit from the EAEU,” the Russian Deputy PM said.

“Further steps are up to the Armenian government. They either claim that there is no such issue on the Armenian government’s agenda and they do not want or do not plan to quit [the EAEU], or that they will assess where they will be better off. Let’s see how the situation will unfold,” Overchuk said.

“Unfortunately, already last year we began to see that under the influence of discussions about EU accession, Russian business became more cautious about further maintaining and developing economic ties with Armenia,” he said. “We saw the curtailing of business activities in a number of areas.”