Pashinyan Explains Why He Will Skip The EAEU Summit In Astana

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will not come to Astana for the EAEU summit scheduled for May 28–29, Orda.kz reports.

Pashinyan told journalists about his decision on May 11. According to him, Armenia will be represented at the summit by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan. The Armenian prime minister also said he had already informed Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that he would not attend.

Against this backdrop, the Armenian prime minister made several more statements about the country’s future in the Eurasian Economic Union. Pashinyan stressed that Yerevan does not plan to leave the EAEU yet, but did not rule out such a scenario in the future.

If we leave the EAEU, we will leave in a planned way, not suddenly,he said.

At the same time, Armenian media continue to discuss the country’s rapprochement with the European Union. Armenia hosted a major EU summit in Yerevan on May 5, as the country continues to move closer to Europe while maintaining EAEU membership.  

The Armenian parliament has supported a bill on the beginning of the country’s EU accession process. Russia has said full EU membership would be incompatible with participation in the EAEU. Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated this position during talks with Pashinyan in April. 

Original author: Elvira Ivannikova

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