Yerevan /Mediamax/. Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of European Affairs, Vladislav Maslennikov, stated that “the Armenian leadership is clearly signaling its interest in maximum rapprochement with the European Union.”

“Russia respects the sovereign right of other states to participate in integration associations, and even more so their desire to gain additional opportunities for economic development and improving the welfare of their populations. However, in the context of Brussels’ strategic course of confrontation with Russia and the rapid transformation of the EU into an aggressive military-political bloc, Armenia’s interest in joining this organization cannot but cause concern,” the Russian diplomat said in an interview with TASS. 

“We hope that Armenia, as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, will realize the potential negative consequences of forced rapprochement with Brussels, both for our allied relations and for the development of integration processes in the post-Soviet space. The fact remains that simultaneous membership in the EAEU and the EU is impossible by definition. Brussels is already actively imposing a politically motivated transition to its standards on Yerevan, fundamentally disregarding the republic’s membership in the EAEU and related obligations. 

Moreover, at a certain stage, Brussels demands complete solidarity with its foreign policy line from any candidate country – a line that today is openly anti-Russian in nature. I also hope that Yerevan realizes that even full compliance with Brussels’ requirements does not guarantee EU membership. This is clearly demonstrated by the example of the Western Balkan states, which have been ‘waiting in line for the European Union for decades,’” Vladislav Maslennikov noted.