The issue of Nikol Pashinyan’s participation in the EAEU Assembly to be held in Moscow on May 8 is being discussed and the public will be informed about the decision. On May 9, the inauguration ceremony of Russian President Putin is scheduled. Armenia is the EAEU presiding country and the Assembly was supposed to be held in Yerevan, but since it is jubilee, dedicated to the EAEU’s tenth anniversary, Yerevan approved holding it in Moscow in December last year, when the leaders of the organization gathered in Moscow for the year-end Assembly.
In fact, the Assembly and Putin’s inauguration will follow each other, and Nikol Pashinyan will have to make a decision about attending not only the Assembly, but also the opening ceremony: attend the Assembly and skip the inauguration, attend both, or skip both. When Yerevan does not participate in the work of the CSTO, it gives its explanation: the CSTO does not ensure the full implementation of its alliance function as a military-political bloc, and Armenia suspends its participation. Is this acceptable for anyone, is it optimal, is it rational, is it a problem solver or not is another problem, but this is a formal explanation that has a certain logic. Skipping the EAEU Assembly seems to have no such explanation, especially since in terms of the EAEU, Yerevan is fully reaping the economic effect.
In that case, it is very difficult to boycott the EAEU Assembly and this will already have a different political tone, a different footnote. On the other hand, it is beyond doubt that this “dilemma” for Yerevan is directly related to the work with the West. There is no doubt that in the political context of that work, at least for the western partners, the essential problem and “value” is exactly how much Nikol Pashinyan leaves Russia. On the one hand, Yerevan is trying to keep this “value”, but on the other hand, it is also trying to keep the delicate border, beyond which there may be a situation not of specific disagreements with Russia, but essentially of a political confrontation.
And Nikol Pashinyan announced in his parliamentary speech on April 10 that Armenia does not want to go to the declaration with Russia, not only because it does not have the necessary power for it, but also considers Russia an important partner and despite disagreements and disagreements on various issues, also realizes is the importance and results of relationship and work in many directions. At the same time, Pashinyan stated that Armenia did not make any mistakes in relations with Russia, so to speak, in terms of alliance obligations, which is not the case with Moscow, according to Yerevan.
Russian President’s spokesman Peskov stated that Yerevan remains an important ally and partner for Russia, and they expect that Nikol Pashinyan and Vladimir Putin will have the opportunity to discuss the existing issues through a meeting in the near future. In other words, Moscow expects Pashinyan to participate in the Assembly on May 8. And is there the same expectation in terms of the inauguration ceremony, or does Russia not consider that circumstance as a matter of principle?
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