YEREVAN — Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said the time has not yet come for Armenia to make a choice between the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union.
Responding to repeated statements from Moscow urging Armenia to decide between the two blocs, Mirzoyan acknowledged that the EAEU and EU are not compatible structures but stressed that no such decision is currently on the agenda.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin warned that Armenia “cannot sit on two chairs at the same time” and cautioned that Yerevan’s European trajectory could eventually result in “systemic changes” in Russian-Armenian relations.
Mirzoyan said Armenian officials had conveyed the same understanding to their Russian counterparts.
“We ended our latest conversation with our Russian partners by agreeing that if the moment comes when a choice must be made, we will speak transparently and as partners, and we will make that choice together with our people,” Mirzoyan said.
“Whether that choice will be one or the other, we do not yet know. Obviously, it is impossible to be a member of both the EAEU and the EU simultaneously, but today that issue is not on the table.”
Mirzoyan rejected the characterization that Armenia is attempting to “sit on two chairs at once.”
“Armenia is not sitting today. Armenia is standing, developing, and moving forward. And if you insist on metaphors, then it is not two chairs — it is 22 chairs,” the foreign minister remarked.
