Leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union countries in St. Petersburg, Russia on Dec. 25

Pashinyan Warns of ‘Politicizing’ the EEU

Armenia will take over the rotating chairmanship of the Eurasian Economic Union from Russia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced in St. Petersburg on Monday as the Russia-led bloc convened its annual summit.

“We hope for the support and effective cooperation of the member states in the implementation of the tasks set before us. It is symbolic that the presidency of Armenia coincides with the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on the EAEU,” Pashinyan said in his address to the summit.

Pashinyan’s arrival in St. Petersburg on Monday ended his and the Armenian government’s effective boycott of the Russia-led groups’ previous summits.

During his address to the EEU summit, Pashinyan decried attempts to politicize the economic bloc’s activities based on what he called “geopolitical” reasons.

Citing the EEU’s founding treaty signed by Russia, Armenia and the other member-states in 2013, Pashinyan said that the EEU must not have a “political and especially geopolitical agenda.”

“We continue to regard [the EEU] as such and to develop partnership within the framework of our economic cooperation in this context, seeking to thwart all attempts to politicize Eurasian integration,” Pashinyan said. “The EEU and its economic principles must not correlate with political ambitions.”

“The basic freedoms of trade and integration cannot and must not be limited due to political considerations. This would definitely lead to an erosion of the fundamental principles of the union,” he added.