न्यूज अभियान
हरेक खबर विशेष खबर

Armenia plans to formally apply for European Union membership by 2028, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Thursday, signalling a further shift away from longtime ally Russia.

Armenia's relations with Moscow have deteriorated sharply after Yerevan accused Russia of failing to protect it against arch-foe neighbour Azerbaijan.

In 2020 and 2023, Baku recaptured its breakaway Karabakh region, long controlled by Armenian separatists, prompting the enclave's ethnic-Armenian population -- more than 100,000 people -- to flee for Armenia.

Yerevan has since pursued an increasingly pro-Western foreign policy and distanced itself from traditional ally Moscow's orbit.

"We have begun a process of creating an alternative so that our people have the opportunity to choose," Pashinyan told a news conference.

"It is clear to me that this process will ultimately lead us, in 2027 or 2028, to formally submit an application to begin the process of joining the EU as a full member."

He said Yerevan had no immediate plans to withdraw from the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), a trade bloc grouping several former Soviet states.

"We are not planning to leave the EAEU," he said, adding that the bloc's members had raised the prospect of Armenia holding a referendum on its future alignment.

Moscow has repeatedly said that membership of both blocs would not be possible due to conflicting rules.

Pashinyan also said Armenia "had lost interest" in the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a military alliance in which it has frozen participation.

"Our interest in the CSTO has been exhausted. We have no further interest in the CSTO," he said.

In April 2025, Armenia adopted a law launching the process of seeking EU membership, though the legislation did not itself constitute a formal application.

Pashinyan's foreign policy U-turn and swing towards the West has angered the Kremlin.

Earlier this year, Moscow imposed trade restrictions on Armenian agricultural exports and threatened to cut preferential energy supplies.