YEREVAN. – The main reason why Armenia did not become a founding member in the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) is because official Yerevan put the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in a tough manner, and it wanted to have it resolved in its favor and that the Nagorno-Karabakh border be recognized Customs Union (CU) borders.

EurAsEC Institute Director General Vladimir Lepyokhin stated the aforementioned at a press conference on Tuesday adding that this is absolutely the right attitude.

As per Lepyokhin, during signing of the agreement on the creation of EaEU, it was very important for Armenia to come forward as a co-founding country.

“But the global political situation required accelerating this process, and [therefore] Armenia did not appear among the EaEU co-founders. In this connection, I would like to mention, first and foremost, the Armenian leadership’s quite correct position that Yerevan has put numerous matters in a tough manner,” the analyst noted.    

But sadly, according to him, not all CU member countries have supported Armenia’s stance on Karabakh.  

“We know that the President of Kazakhstan expressed his view for that very reason, and this inhibited the process. [But] I believe that no tragedy has happened. It would have been worse if Armenia were to agree, not raise the matter of its national interests, and sign this document,” Vladimir Lepyokhin stressed.