The question will be posed sharply – EAEU or European Union: Marat Bashirov on Putin and Pashinyan’s upcoming meeting

Marat Bashirov, political scientist, commented to Alpha News on the upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, assessing the possible positions of both sides on the future foreign policy and economic course of Yerevan.

According to the expert, Pashinyan may face the need to choose between maintaining Armenia’s participation in the EAEU and a course toward joining the European Union, while Moscow may, in turn, outline the possible consequences of such a decision.

“Pashinyan will be confronted with a fact that, in principle, we already know and that has been stated repeatedly: either you stay within the EAEU, or, accordingly, you prepare the country to join the European Union. If a decision is made that it’s one or the other and that sitting on two chairs won’t be possible, it will need to be made very quickly, because there was a consolidated statement from the leaders of this union. This is not just Russia’s position,” Bashirov noted.

According to the political scientist, the meeting may address not only Armenia’s political choice but also the specific economic consequences of a potential withdrawal from the EAEU.

“It should be understood that Armenia’s economy relies heavily on preferences in foreign trade. And these preferences concern not only the Russian market, but also the markets of other countries that are part of the EAEU. So this meeting won’t just be an offer to choose one or the other. There will be arguments: ‘Nikol, if you go there, what you get out of it is your business and the business of your country’s citizens. But if you go there, you’ll lose this, that, and the other,'” Bashirov concluded.