The restrictions being applied by the Russian Federation to the export of Armenia’s goods contradict the regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union, it is essentially a crisis for the EAEU, about which we have already started discussions within the organization. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday stated this within the framework of the first session of the ninth convocation National Assembly while presenting the 2026-2031 program of Armenia’s new government.

"The joint statement of the leaders of the four EAEU member states of May 29 of this year is noteworthy, where they say, I quote: ‘We share the position on the need to hold a national referendum in the Republic of Armenia as soon as possible on joining the European Union or remaining part of the European Economic Union.’ We perceive this as a friendly gesture, which we highly appreciate, and I am sure such a referendum will definitely take place in Armenia.

The issue is the timeframes. But the timeframe is not only of organizational importance, but also of content.

In March 2025, the National Assembly passed the law on the launch of the process of the Republic of Armenia’s membership in the EU. From the title of the law and also from its brief content, it is obvious that it is about the launch of the process of membership in the EU, but the referendum on the matter is not a feature of the launch of this process, but an important milestone. That said, a referendum makes sense when the launched process has reached some milestone and it is possible to reflect on its theoretical aspects of these prospects, to have a roadmap on how we will move forward, to what extent are the reforms necessary for membership in the European Union realistic within the given timeframe.

Having any answers to these questions is important not only in procedural terms, but also in order to have at least an approximate answer to the questions being posed by the people during the referendum. And in order to work on the answers to these questions, Armenia must first submit an official application for membership to the EU. This is also a process that requires extensive work, and we will probably start this process in the near future. Moreover, heeding the urgings of our EAEU partners, there is also an economic component. The first steps are being taken to gain access to the EU market for Armenia, and our people should have time to see and understand the possible effect of this.

My understanding is that we will hold a referendum after officially applying to the EU for membership, receiving an appropriate response, and having a roadmap for the process.

But also on this occasion I want to clarify why we [i.e. Armenia] have adopted a balanced and balancing foreign policy, and why are we talking about the agenda for EU membership if we do not have answers to many questions today. For a simple reason: the situation when the Republic of Armenia has nowhere to go, has no alternative, is a threat to our statehood, independence and sovereignty, we are forming and will form alternatives for the Republic of Armenia and its people.

Having alternatives is a matter of state security for us, because not having an alternative means giving someone the opportunity to impose anything on us. During this time, we have created many alternatives; for example, in the matter of acquiring weapons and equipment. If we had continued to remain without alternatives, our army would not have had the weapons and equipment that it has today. And on the contrary, we are now suffering the consequences of the fact that an alternative to the export [to Russia] of roses produced in Armenia had not been formed. If it had been formed, we would have guaranteed ourselves from the current problem, just as we had guaranteed ourselves from the gasoline problem,” Pashinyan added.

He stated that he absolutely disagreed with the assessment that the problem that has arisen in the export sector of Armenia is a crisis.

“This is a crisis for the EAEU, whereas for Armenia it is an opportunity, because we must understand that just as there are many arms sellers in the world, especially when you adopt a strategy of using these weapons only for defensive purposes and not using them outside the internationally recognized territory of your country, which we have done publicly, so there are many buyers of roses in the world, and to deliver roses to these many buyers, one thing is needed: work, competent, consistent, patient work, which we will definitely do and are doing with our esteemed businessmen.

By the way, the government has started this work a long time ago. But if on the matter of weapons the government has a monopoly on deciding where to purchase, what, etc., this is not the case in other domains, and we have not had success there in many cases, because it is very difficult to get our esteemed businessmen out of their ‘comfort zone,’ so to speak, for objective and subjective reasons. But we have always given that signal that, ‘See there are many products that you export at the expense of our sovereignty. And the time will come when the question we will formulate is, what are we choosing?’ We have always given this message that we will choose sovereignty, there is simply no other option," the Armenian premier added.