Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Mirzoyan has accepted his invitation to visit Moscow for what would be their first face-to-face talks in more than a year. He expressed hope that the trip will take place “soon.”
Lavrov’s most recent publicized meeting with Mirzoyan took place in North Macedonia in November 2023. Mirzoyan did not hold separate talks with his Russian counterpart when he visited Moscow in October 2024 to attend a meeting of the foreign ministers of ex-Soviet states.
Yerevan appears to have minimized diplomatic contacts with Moscow amid a deepening rift between the two longtime allies and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s efforts to reorient his country towards the West. The Armenian government officially announced last week plans to join the European Union, prompting stern warnings from Moscow.
Narek Sukiasian, an Armenian political analyst, suggested on Thursday that Lavrov and other Russian officials are now seeking clarifications as to whether Yerevan regards EU membership as a “distant dream” or is planning “more practical steps” for that purpose.
“In case of the practical steps, a decision will have to be made regarding Armenia’s continued membership in the [Russian-led] Eurasian Economic Union, which is not compatible with being a member of the EU,” Sukiasian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Lavrov also said that the Armenian authorities must not “act against a third party” as a result of a U.S.-Armenian agreement on “strategic partnership” signed later on Tuesday. He claimed that they will come under U.S. pressure to take such action against Moscow and, in particular, join Western sanctions imposed on Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.