Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament on Monday that Armenia will begin preparing to apply for EU membership, marking a dramatic geopolitical shift for a country long considered within Russia's sphere of influence. Pashinyan outlined a sequenced process — formal application, Brussels' response, accession roadmap, then a national referendum — while indicating Armenia would remain in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (a post-Soviet military alliance) until choosing between the two blocs becomes unavoidable. Russia's Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned swiftly that leaving the CSTO could trigger "deep trade contradictions" harmful to Armenia, signalling a turbulent period ahead for relations between Moscow and its former ally.