With simply days left earlier than Sunday’s historic elections, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is strolling a tightrope, balancing a pro-Western push with efforts to keep away from escalating battle with Russia, as Moscow ramps up strain on Armenians forward of the decisive vote.
Pashinyan responded to the Russian-led Eurasian Financial Union’s (EAEU) name for a referendum on Armenia’s pro-Western, EU-aligned path, saying on Monday that the time for such a selection was not but ripe, with the most recent opinion polls pinning Pashinyan’s victory on Sunday.
Armenia’s prime minister moved to ease tensions between Russia and the EAEU, saying Yerevan “will proceed to work within the Eurasian Financial Union till the second when a selection between the EU and the EAEU turns into inevitable.”
Nevertheless, he added that Armenia’s future is a matter of sovereignty and “choices should in fact be taken by the Armenian individuals in a referendum.”
Pashinyan identified that Armenia’s accession to the EU is presently “theoretical”.
“It might be unreasonable to carry a referendum till Armenia formally applies for EU membership or could be very near attaining candidacy,” Pashinyan stated.
“Submitting theoretical decisions to a referendum is in fact neither very clever nor justified,” he added.
“Due to this fact, we intend to proceed our work calmly and steadily with out battle inside the Eurasian Financial Union and are satisfied that there’s nonetheless potential on this path, which we’ll exploit within the close to future.”
The Armenian prime minister went on to say that whereas “relations with Russia are in a interval of transformation,” he thought of the method “constructive” and that relations between Armenia and Russia stay “open and sincere, and we don’t go away any darkish corners in our relationships.”
However Pashinyan went on to say that Armenia is “significantly dedicated to normalizing relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan,” which he stated was “not a whim however a necessity” and continued to counter pro-Russian rebels who search to maintain the previous Soviet state in Moscow’s conventional orbit.
“With out relations with Turkey, the size is empty. An empty scale creates critical dangers and instability,” the Armenian prime minister defined.
In a brand new improvement within the already delicate relations between Armenia and Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched a letter on Sunday congratulating Pashinyan on his birthday, stating that “the relations between our two nations and peoples have historically been pleasant and we have an interest within the additional progressive improvement of each nations.”
In parallel, Moscow continued to accentuate its financial offensive with measures and threats by banning the import of virtually all fish merchandise from Armenia on Monday, after proscribing the import of assorted Armenian vegatables and fruits, wine, brandy, and Jermuk mineral water.
The Kremlin additionally threatened to chop important Russian oil and gasoline provides to Armenia.
In response to those measures, Mr. Pashinyan promised state compensation to Armenian farmers affected by the Russian embargo.
