Russia and Armenia are sliding into a new crisis

The Kremlin is not satisfied with Yerevan's pro-Western course. Putin almost openly threatens the Ukrainian scenario

Parliamentary elections in Armenia will be held next Sunday, June 7. Russia has repeatedly criticized the country's current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the fact that Yerevan, according to the Kremlin, has chosen a pro-Western course. Armenia began to cooperate more actively with the European Union and the United States after Russia actually refused to support it in the conflict with Azerbaijan. Now Moscow is demanding that pro-Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who is under house arrest, be allowed to participate in the elections in Armenia. At the same time, the Kremlinbots launched a large-scale campaign against Armenia and Pashinyan personally. According to Reuters, the Kremlin allegedly discussed a plan to send 100 thousand Armenians living in Russia to Yerevan so that they would vote against Pashinyan. We will briefly tell you how, even on the eve of the elections, Russia is increasing pressure on Armenia.

• The Kremlin regularly uses economic leverage against close neighbors with whom it conducts close trade. Rosselkhoznadzor has already banned the import of Armenian strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, herbs, some brands of cognac and wine, Jermuk mineral water, flowers, fish , apricots, cherries , plums, and grapes.
• In addition to this, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev threatened to stop supplies of natural gas, oil products and rough diamonds to the republic if Armenia continues the process of joining the European Union.
• The authorities of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan jointlydemanded that Armenia hold a referendum on whether the country remains in the Eurasian Economic Union ( EAEU ) or seeks to join the European Union. Nikol Pashinyan refused to hold such a referendum, saying that this is still a theoretical issue.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin, after the EAEU summit in Astana, directly threatened : if Armenia begins to switch to EU standards, then Moscow will “curtail” all economic integration with Yerevan, and Armenian citizens will have to obtain patents to work in Russia. At the same time, Putin emphasized that due to attempts to join the EU, a “crisis” began in Ukraine at one time.
• The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin for consultations “in connection with the steps of the Armenian leadership towards rapprochement with the European Union, which are detrimental to interaction within the EAEU.” Recalling an ambassador is one way to demonstrate dissatisfaction at the diplomatic level.
• Amid these threats, the Kremlin claims that Putin called Pashinyan on his birthday—the Armenian prime minister turned 51 on June 1. During the conversation, the Russian President allegedly discussed the results of the EAEU summit in Astana. At the same time, the Kremlin published a telegram that Putin sent to Pashinyan. It states that Russia is interested in further developing friendly relations with Armenia.

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