The expert pointed out the economic losses for Armenia in case of withdrawal from the EAEU

The Armenian parliament is ready to consider a bill on joining the European Union (EU), but joining the EU requires leaving the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which would significantly affect Armenia's economy, experts say. Nevertheless, Yerevan does not intend to lose relations with Moscow either, as evidenced by the visit of the country's Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to the Russian capital.

"In the bill adopted by the Armenian government on joining the European Union, there is no talk of any deadlines or mechanisms. This is an initiative of the civil society, the organizations collected the necessary 50,000 votes, this initiative automatically turned into a bill, and this bill will be put to a vote in parliament," Mirzoyan said.

At the same time, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan clarified that the bill should not be perceived as an application for immediate accession to the EU. Its main goal is to indicate Armenia's readiness for practical work on rapprochement with the union.

At the same time, Armenia's trade turnover with the EAEU countries in January-August 2024 amounted to more than $9 billion, which is twice as much as in 2023. Exiting the EAEU will deal a heavy blow to the republic's economy, Nikolay Silaev, a senior researcher at the Center for Caucasus and Regional Security Issues at MGIMO, told Izvestia.

"Moreover, Armenia will have to leave the EAEU without any guarantees and deadlines regarding its accession to the EU. And how it is going to go this way in an unknown number of years, I do not know and I think that no one in the republic knows it either," the expert explained.

Read more in Izvestia's exclusive piece:

Achieve unification: Armenia will consider a draft law on EU accession in February