“Last year, we reduced the level of Russian troop presence,” he told an international forum held in the Czech Republic. “But on the other hand, we do not have the task at hand to end the presence of Russian troops in Armenia. We have another task: to be able to establish a lasting and stable peace with the countries of the region.”
Pashinian announced more than a year ago the suspension of Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), accusing the military alliance and Russia in particular of failing to honor security commitments to Yerevan. But so far he has been careful not to formally pull his country out of the CSTO. Nor has he demanded that Russia close its military base in Armenia or withdraw its border guards from the country’s borders with Turkey and Iran.
In recent months, there have been indications that Pashinian’s government wants to ease tensions with Moscow. The latter has reciprocated those overtures, with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko visiting Yerevan recently.
At the same time, the government pushed through the Armenian parliament in April a law that declared the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union.” Russian officials called the move the beginning of Armenia’s withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a trade bloc that gives the South Caucasus nation a tariff-free access to the Russian market. Yerevan responded by saying that it has no plans yet to formally apply for EU membership.
Pashinian said that Armenia will eventually have to choose between the EU and the Russian-led bloc. He did not specify when that could happen.
Russia accounted for over 41 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade last year, compared with the EU’s 7.7 percent share.