Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has rebuffed a demand from Moscow to hold an immediate referendum on leaving the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in favour of joining the European Union, describing the call as "unreasonable" and "neither very sensible nor justified." The refusal came after Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the issue during a phone call to Pashinyan — ostensibly to wish him a happy birthday — amid a rapid escalation of economic and diplomatic pressure from the Kremlin on its once-close ally.
Tensions came to a head at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 29 May, where Putin and fellow EAEU members Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan issued a joint statement urging Armenia to hold the referendum "as soon as possible," insisting that simultaneous membership of both the EU and the EAEU is impossible. Putin also issued what many observers interpreted as a barely veiled warning, noting that the "Ukrainian scenario" had begun with Kyiv's pursuit of EU integration — a remark that prompted sharp concern in Brussels. The following day, Moscow recalled its ambassador to Yerevan for consultations, a significant diplomatic signal.
In a video address on social media, Pashinyan said his government would continue operating within the EAEU until a choice between the two blocs "becomes unavoidable" — that is, until Armenia formally applies for EU candidate status. He described Armenian-Russian relations as being in a "transformation phase" while expressing confidence that new ties between the two countries could be built on openness and sincerity. Russia has simultaneously tightened economic pressure, with its agricultural watchdog suspending fish and seafood imports from Armenia, citing health violations. The measure follows earlier bans on Armenian mineral water, alcohol, flowers and produce — a pattern critics say amounts to deliberate economic coercion.
The European Union condemned Moscow's actions on Monday, with a European Commission spokesperson saying it was "no coincidence" that the pressure was intensifying now. "Russia is seeking to paralyse Armenia's economy and influence the election result," the spokesperson said, adding that the EU would continue supporting Armenia against "hybrid threats" and attempts to undermine confidence in democratic institutions.
The standoff is unfolding just days before Armenian parliamentary elections scheduled for 7 June, which are widely seen as a referendum on Pashinyan's Western-leaning course. Armenia, a landlocked country in the South Caucasus and a former Soviet republic, has been steadily distancing itself from Russia since Moscow failed to intervene during Azerbaijan's 2023 military offensive that ended Armenian control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed enclave the two countries had contested for decades. That estrangement accelerated after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Yerevan has since deepened EU ties, hosted a high-profile visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, and signed a strategic partnership agreement with the United States — steps that have drawn increasingly pointed reactions from the Kremlin.