Armenia Sets Course for EU Membership Bid in Landmark Break From Moscow

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on Monday that his government will begin preparing a formal application to join the European Union, marking one of the most dramatic geopolitical realignments in the South Caucasus since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Addressing parliament, Pashinyan laid out a carefully sequenced path: Yerevan will first submit its candidacy, await a response from Brussels, negotiate the framework for accession talks, and only then put the question of EU membership to voters in a national referendum, which he indicated could come in the near future.

The announcement escalates a standoff with Moscow. Months earlier, fellow members of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) — of which Armenia remains a part — pressed Yerevan to choose between staying in the alliance and pursuing EU accession through a popular vote. At the time, Pashinyan called such a decision premature, as the Kremlin unleashed waves of economic restrictions on Armenia and President Vladimir Putin openly warned of a "Ukrainian scenario," insisting the two affiliations could not coexist.

On Monday, however, the prime minister struck a markedly different tone. He said he would welcome it if the CSTO expelled Armenia outright, noting that this would at least spare his country the dilemma of having to withdraw itself. Still, he stopped short of immediate exit, saying Armenia would remain in the bloc until the choice between Moscow's security umbrella and the European path becomes unavoidable.

Pashinyan framed the shift as the product of hard historical lessons. For two centuries, he noted, relations with Russia rested on the assumption that Moscow guaranteed Armenian security. The events of 2021, 2022 and 2023 — years spanning Armenia's wars and losses against Azerbaijan over Karabakh — demonstrated that Russia, constrained by its own challenges, could not always fulfil that role, leaving Yerevan to confront what he described as its failure to learn from history.

The EU pivot builds on a broader regional thaw. Since signing a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in August 2025, Armenia and its former adversary have pursued economic cooperation and stability, with substantial backing from the European Union and the United States.

In a further challenge to Russian dominance, Pashinyan also urged Moscow to surrender its monopoly concession over Armenia's railways, which runs until 2038, so the country can link its network to international corridors — with Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates floated as potential investors, even as Armenia's economy remains dependent on Russian energy and infrastructure.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reacted quickly, warning that Armenia's adoption of EU standards could create what he called deep trade contradictions that would primarily hurt Armenia itself, while adding that Yerevan is free to leave the CSTO if it no longer values membership — signals suggesting rocky times ahead between the two former allies.