Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the growing divide between Armenia and Russia, suggesting the country could hold a ‘referendum’ to determine Yerevan’s political trajectory. Putin added that if the Armenian people so choose, ‘we will make the relevant conclusions and take the path of a gentle, intelligent and mutually beneficial divorce’.
Once close allies, Armenia’s relations with Russia have deteriorated in recent years, fueled by Moscow’s inaction during Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia’s internationally recognised territory in 2022. Since then, Armenia has increasingly shifted its focus to the West, prompting Russia to say that the choice is for Armenia to make, while simultaneously reiterating the risks the country would face by turning away from Russia.
Putin has said it is impossible to be part of both the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Addressing the situation directly during a press conference on Saturday, Putin said that as for ‘Armenia’s plans to join the EU, this certainly requires special consideration’.
The Armenian Parliament passed a bill in March 2025 that calls on the government to pursue EU integration, but there have been few concrete steps since then.
Putin added, ‘we will support everything that will benefit the Armenian people. We maintained special relations with the Armenian people for centuries. And if the Armenian people consider any decision as beneficial, we will certainly have nothing to say against it’.
However, Putin then pivoted to listing the potential economic risks turning away from Russia could entail, emphasising that ‘it would be right with respect to the people, the Armenian citizens, and to us as its main economic partner, if a decision was made as soon as possible, for instance, at a referendum. This is not our business, but as a matter of principle it would be logical to ask the Armenian citizens what their choice will be’.
‘On seeing it we will make the relevant conclusions and take the path of a gentle, intelligent and mutually beneficial divorce’, he said.
More ominously, Putin then implied there could be more tangible threats corresponding with any effort by Armenia to join the EU.
‘We are currently living through everything that is happening in respect of Ukraine. And how did it start? It started with Ukraine’s [sic] joining or attempting to join the EU’, Putin said, distorting the process that led to the country’s Euromaidan Revolution in 2014 and obfuscating his own responsibility in fomenting the subsequent unrest, as well as in ordering Russian troops to invade in 2014 and 2022.
The comments marked the latest upswing in tensions between Armenia and Russia, coming after Putin’s testy meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Moscow in April and Yerevan’s hosting of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi at the European Political Community summit earlier in May.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
