Armenia’s simultaneous membership in EAEU and EU is impossible, says Russian Deputy FM

Armenia’s simultaneous membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU is impossible, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told the Izvestia newspaper.

“We consider the Western policy in the South Caucasus to be absolutely destructive because it does not seek to stabilize the situation in this strategically important region for Russia but to ‘contribute’ to inflicting a strategic defeat on us. Sometimes there is even talk of attempts to persuade some countries to open a second front in Transcaucasia against Russia,” Galuzin said.

Speaking about the relations between Armenia and the European Union, the diplomat noted that the Armenian people make sovereign decisions on how to build their foreign policy.

“Official Yerevan, the Armenian state, the Armenian society, and the Armenian people make sovereign decisions on how to build their foreign policy and how to position their country in the international community. This is their prerogative, and we never interfere in the internal affairs of other states and never impose our own vision on other states, but try to come to some mutually acceptable decisions and make a compromise to solve certain issues through dialogue,” he stressed.

“We see that the EU is loyal to itself here since, without making any promises or any serious decisions in terms of visa-free relations, it is already demanding from Armenia political loyalty and joining anti-Russian sanctions. And all this is happening when Armenia’s membership in the EAEU brings tangible and significant long-term benefits to it, such as increased trade with the EAEU and increased investments from the EAEU to Armenia.

If we take the latest figures of the Armenian statistics—I will give them approximately so as not to be mistaken in some details—then the trade turnover between Armenia and its partners in the EAEU is about $13 billion, and last year it increased by 53%, and the trade with the EU in the same last year barely exceeded $2 billion and at the same time decreased by 24%. In other words, even these figures of Armenian statistics show the sources of the current economic prosperity of Armenia and its people, and a sharp shift and transition to the EU platform, in our opinion, will inevitably be associated with a drop in GDP and with serious blows to the Armenian business, economy and standard of living of ordinary citizens of Armenia.

Armenian politicians sometimes say that there are sentiments in Armenian society in favor of joining the EU. There are probably such sentiments, but we believe that the sentiments of those Armenian citizens who think of their country’s future in the Eurasian family and within the Eurasian integration are equally worthy of attention,” Galuzin concluded.

It should also be noted that yesterday, in an interview with RIA Novosti, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin commented on Armenia’s membership in the CSTO, stressing that there are no mechanisms, no alternative to the CSTO to ensure Armenia’s security in the region, and Moscow hopes that Yerevan understands this.