Yerevan will take over the year-long rotating presidency on January 1. This was reaffirmed by the leaders of five ex-Soviet states making up the Russian-led trade bloc during a summit in Saint Petersburg on Monday.
Speaking during the summit, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stressed that his government regards the EEU as a purely economic organization that must not have a “political and especially geopolitical agenda.”
“The EEU and its economic principles must not correlate with political ambitions,” Pashinian said without elaborating.
His remarks highlighted Yerevan’s deepening rift with Moscow and efforts to forge closer links with the European Union and the United States.
Speaking during a news briefing, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, was asked whether Moscow is worried about the Armenian presidency of the EEU in light of those remarks and Armenian leaders’ broader criticism of Russia.
“Russia’s interaction with Armenia within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union is built on a pragmatic and mutually beneficial foundation,” replied Zakharova. “We can see that Yerevan is drawing significant dividends from its participation in the union. Despite some ambiguous statements by representatives of the republic mentioned by you, we are building a constructive, depoliticized dialogue with our Armenian partners as well as with the other EAEU member states.”
“The prime minister of this country, speaking at the December 25 meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Saint Petersburg, announced Yerevan’s focus on fully achieving EAEU objectives in the medium and long term,” she said, adding that Moscow supports Pashinian’s stated intention.
Russia accounts for over 95 percent of Armenia’s trade with the rest of the EEU and 35 percent of the South Caucasus nation’s overall commercial exchange, compared with the EU’s 15 percent share in the total.
Russian-Armenian trade has skyrocketed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting barrage of Western sanctions against Moscow. Armenian exports to Russia tripled in 2022 and nearly doubled in January-September 2023.