In the event of a possible accession to the European Union (EU), Armenia will not receive any development assistance and privileges, the speaker of the Russian State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, has announced. According to him, Armenia will be treated the same way by the EU as the latter had treated Ukraine in the past.

Volodin noted that one of the main reasons for supporting Ukraine's European integration was considered to be "development prospects," but Ukrainian agricultural products, according to him, did not receive full access to the EU market due to tariff quotas. And he believes that the same scenario can be expected for Armenia.

In addition, the Russian State Duma speaker stated that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is not informing the Armenian population about the possible rapprochement with the EU and the consequences of Armenia’s exiting the EAEU. As per Volodin, this could lead to an increase in the price of Russian natural gas in Armenia, a reduction in remittances from Russia to Armenia, changes in Russian immigration rules, and restrictions on the supply of Armenian products to the Russian market.

Also, Vyacheslav Volodin expressed a view that the Armenian authorities are trying to place the possible costs of European integration on the EAEU and Russia, and the decisions of the Armenian leadership may be conditioned by political obligations.