Russia has warned that Armenia’s closer alignment with the European Union could have negative consequences for its allied relations with Moscow and for integration processes across the post-Soviet space.
In an interview with TASS, Vladislav Maslennikov, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for European Affairs, said that Yerevan’s interest in EU membership raises serious concerns, given what he described as the EU’s rapid transformation into an “aggressive military-political bloc” and its strategic course of confrontation with Russia.
“Armenia’s interest in joining this organization cannot but cause concern,” Maslennikov said, referring to the EU’s current trajectory.
He expressed hope that Armenia, as a member state of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), would recognize the potential negative impact of accelerated rapprochement with Brussels both on its allied relations with Russia and on the broader development of integration processes in the post-Soviet region.
At the same time, Maslennikov noted that Russia respects the sovereign right of other countries to participate in integration associations, as well as their desire to seek additional opportunities for economic development and improving the well-being of their populations. However, he stressed that the Armenian leadership has “clearly signaled” its interest in maximum rapprochement with the European Union.
In this context, he recalled that in April 2025, Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan signed a law “On the Start of the Process of Accession of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union,” which had previously been approved by the country’s parliament.
According to Maslennikov, Brussels has already begun to “actively impose a politically motivated transition to EU standards on Yerevan,” a process that, he argued, fundamentally ignores Armenia’s membership in the EAEU and the obligations arising from it.
“The fact remains: simultaneous membership in the EAEU and the EU is impossible by definition,” the Russian diplomat concluded.
