Pashinyan: EU Has No Leverage to Pressure Armenia

CHOLPON-ATA  – “If anyone has leverage to exert pressure on Armenia, that leverage is not in Brussels, nor is it in the West, South, or East,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on August 7 during a conversation with Russian journalists.

“As for Armenia’s policy, there is nothing new about it. Like all states, we are pursuing a policy of diversification. That is the sovereign and legitimate right of any country,” Pashinyan added.

He stressed that the European Union has no leverage to influence Armenia or its decisions.

Speaking about trade and economic relations with Russia, Pashinyan criticized the recent restrictions imposed by Russia on Armenian goods, emphasizing that such measures only generate negative perceptions of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in Armenia. According to him, violations of the Union’s fundamental principles point to existing problems within the EAEU.

“What is happening now with Armenian goods is, of course, a problem for the Republic of Armenia, but it is an even greater problem for the EAEU, because in practice it means that the EAEU is not functioning. If its principles are not being upheld, then the organization is not functioning,” the Armenian prime minister said.

Addressing Armenia’s efforts to diversify its foreign policy and economy, Pashinyan noted that this has been a long-standing policy.

He added that, to some extent, the process was also encouraged by statements from some EAEU partners suggesting that Armenia “is not needed by anyone and is not welcome anywhere.”

According to Pashinyan, Yerevan took that message not negatively, but positively, and began working to prove the opposite.