YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Armenia should call a referendum on joining the European Union by December or risk losing its membership in a Russian-led trade bloc, a senior Russian diplomat warned on Tuesday, August 11.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of three other Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states effectively set that deadline in a joint statement issued during a May 29 summit in Kazakhstan boycotted by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. They instructed their prime ministers to present “possible consequences” of suspending Armenia’s membership in the EEU at their next summit planned for December.
“It is clear that if the call for a referendum is not heeded by that time, the leaders will take this fact into account when determining appropriate further joint steps,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told the TASS news agency.
Galuzin said Armenians should specifically be asked whether they want their country to leave the EEU for “the prospect — not entirely obvious — of joining the EU in the future.”
Putin insisted that the referendum should be held “as soon as possible” when he spoke with Pashinyan by phone late last month. Pashinyan again rejected the demand during a meeting of EEU prime ministers in Kyrgyzstan last week.
Pashinyan downplayed the fact that his government enacted last year a law declaring the start of a “process of Armenia’s accession to the European Union.” He said it does not mean that his country “has a chance to become an EU member today.” Yerevan must first formally apply for EU membership and then receive a candidate status from the 27-nation bloc, argued the Armenian premier. Galuzin dismissed Pashinyan’s “confusing statements” on the subject made in recent months.
