Russia says EU membership incompatible with Eurasian bloc

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has declared that Armenia cannot join the European Union while remaining a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). His remarks were made during a 2025 year-end press conference on Russia’s foreign policy, as reported by RIA Novosti.

“Moving toward EU membership is fundamentally incompatible with remaining in the EEU. If Armenia decides accordingly, as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated, that decision will reflect the will of the Armenian people, and that is their sovereign right,” Lavrov said.

“Still, Armenia’s leadership and people will have to make a clear choice. Dual participation in both organizations is not possible,” he stressed.

In a recent policy discussion titled “Armenia and Peace at the Crossroads of Risks and Opportunities,” Prime Minister Pashinyan reaffirmed Armenia’s unambiguous aspiration for full EU membership, stating that the country is aligning itself with European standards.

“We understand that dual membership in both the EU and the EEU is not sustainable in the long run. But today, we are still operating within a space where some compatibility exists. As long as that space remains, we’ll continue our EEU membership. When that compatibility becomes impossible, we will make a decision through the free will of our citizens,” Pashinyan said.