Using the example of Ukraine, Russia appears to warn Armenia of building relations with the West

On Wednesday, Russian Ambassador to Armenia, Sergei Kopyrkin, apparently warned Armenia, stating that the current situation with Ukraine ‘clearly demonstrates what can happen if a state abandons its own national interests and turns into an instrument for implementing destructive geopolitical scenarios of the West in the context of confrontation with Russia’.

The statement was made during a conference held in Yerevan called ‘East-West Confrontation. Ukrainian Dimension. Scenarios for the Future’.

The Russian state-run media outlet Sputnik Armenia quoted Kopyrkin as saying that what was happening in Ukraine ‘is a direct consequence and continuation of the centuries-old confrontation between Russia and the West’.

In the scope of the same conference, Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told journalists that Russia considered it ‘unlikely’ for Armenia ‘to combine participation’ in the  Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) with membership in the EU.

Additionally, Miroshnik said that Russia was interested in deepening relations with Armenia within the CSTO.

The statement came despite Armenia’s ‘frozen’ participation in the bloc, for over a year, with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan previously announcing that ‘we have crossed the point of no return,’ regarding the country’s possible return to the bloc.

Armenia’s relations with both Russia and the CSTO have been deteriorating for years, following the failure of the two to send assistance during Azerbaijani incursions into Armenia in 2021 and 2022.

The EAEU’s ‘equal states’ vs the EU’s rule through ‘Brussels bureaucrats’

Following the above-mentioned statements made in Yerevan, more followed from Russian top officials on Thursday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin made a similar statement as Miroshnik in an interview with RIA Novosti, saying that Russia is ‘convinced that it is impossible to be in two oppositely directed associations at the same time, like the EAEU’.

Galuzin’s comment came in response to Armenia’s Parliament adoption of a bill that calls on the government to seek EU integration in its second and final hearing in late March.

The bill has received a frosty reception in Russia from the very beginning of the legislative process, when the government greenlit the bill in January. Since then, high-ranking Russian officials have repeatedly talked about the incompatibility of the EU with the EAEU.

The issue was also touched upon during a recent call between Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Putin offering ‘his comments and assessments’ on the matter.

In his statements on Thursday, Galuzin praised the EAEU, calling it an association of ‘equal states’, unlike the EU where ‘there is discipline of the stick, [and states are] subordinated to anti-Russian narratives set by Brussels bureaucrats who are out of touch with reality’.

Asked by RIA Novosti whether Russia had requested ‘clarification’ from Armenia, regarding the parliament’s approval of the bill, Galuzin said that Armenia and Russia ‘are allies and strategic partners’.

‘Therefore, we discuss all the current issues on our agenda in an atmosphere of openness and trust’.

In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that ‘despite attempts from outside to undermine the Russian–Armenian alliance, we have managed to maintain a high level of political dialogue and foreign policy coordination, to increase trade and economic cooperation both bilaterally and in the format of a common integration space’.

The statement came in Lavrov’s congratulatory message to his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan, on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries

Lavrov also expressed Russia’s readiness ‘to continue working together to further deepen and improve the effectiveness of the partnership’.