Samvel Karapetyan refuses to answer whether Armenia can be in both the EU and EAEU

Separately, Karapetyan avoided a reporter’s question over whether Armenia could be in two unions — referring to the EU and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) — at the same time.

Under Pashinyan’s current government, Armenia has been seeking closer ties with the EU, including passing a bill calling on the government to pursue EU integration, although the formal accession process has not yet begun. In response, high-ranking Russian officials have repeatedly talked about the incompatibility of the EU with the EAEU, which Armenia is a member of.

In response to the question posed to him on Sunday, Karapetyan stated that he would ‘answer that question probably tomorrow. Today, I don’t think it’s necessary to answer that question’.

At the same time, however, he seemed to criticise Russia’s recent and varied sanctions against Armenian products, claiming that he does not ‘accept it’.

‘Armenian businesspeople suffer from it, Armenian people. Any step from any country if […] Armenian people suffer, I can’t accept it’.