Politico: Totally breaking off relations with Moscow and an EU membership are fraught with difficulties

The government in Yerevan has been trying to distance itself from historical ally Russia, Politico writes.

Armenia’s parliament adopted a bill Wednesday aimed at starting the process of joining the European Union. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in January said that the Armenian government wants EU membership, but pointed out that such a decision can only be made through a nationwide referendum.

The bill was initiated after a petition calling on the authorities to launch the process garnered more than the 50,000 signatures needed for it to be discussed in parliament. The process of joining the EU can take decades, as the process involves six so-called clusters, subdivided into a total of 35 so-called chapters, and includes evaluations of a country’s compliance with EU criteria in a wide range of policy areas such as the functioning of democratic institutions, the judiciary and fundamental rights, among many, many others.

Armenia’s pivot follows the country’s growing tensions with Russia, historically one of its top allies.

In 2024, the government in Yerevan announced it would quit the Kremlin-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, accusing the alliance of failing to intervene when the country was attacked by neighboring Azerbaijan.

However, Armenia still depends heavily on Russian energy and trade, and hosts a Kremlin military base, illustrating the difficulty of totally breaking off relations with Moscow.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk recently compared Armenia’s EU aspirations to “buying a ticket on Titanic” and warned it of economic consequences.