Russia says Armenia's future in post-Soviet military and economic blocs must be settled soon

MOSCOW, June 10 - Russia said on Wednesday that the question of whether Armenia remains part of a military alliance of former Soviet states and a separate economic grouping must be settled quickly, against a background of growing tensions between Moscow and Yerevan.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is working towards the goal of European Union membership for his South Caucasus country, won re-election on Sunday despite what international monitors said was blatant interference and pressure from Russia. In turn, Moscow accused Western countries of interfering in the vote in favour of Pashinyan.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that whether Armenia remained in the two post-Soviet blocs - the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - needed to be resolved promptly.

He told a press conference that seeking to join the EU was incompatible with remaining in the economic union, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.

In 2024 Pashinyan froze Armenia's participation in the CSTO, a Russian-led military alliance which groups the same countries plus Tajikistan, citing a lack of faith in its security guarantees after Azerbaijan recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway territory that had an ethnic Armenian population.

Lavrov, speaking after a meeting of CSTO foreign ministers that Armenia did not attend, said Armenia was in arrears with its membership fees and had been absent from joint events even as it increased military cooperation with NATO and EU countries.

Armenia's formal exit from the bloc would further undermine Russia's efforts to keep Yerevan in its orbit. Pashinyan, in power since 2018, has sought to shift Armenia away from its traditional reliance on Moscow by deepening ties with Brussels and Washington.

Ahead of the June 7 election, Russia increased pressure on Armenia, imposing a raft of trade restrictions and threatening to suspend its membership in the Russian-led regional economic bloc over its EU accession hopes. REUTERS