Here, another [Armenian] president is under investigation, [Serzh] Sargsyan, who was the defense minister under [Robert] Kocharyan and then became president. The position of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that we are guided by the interests of the Armenian people. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated this when answering a question from RBC television about former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his older son, Sedrak, being placed under pretrial detention for two months.

“In fact, we saw Armenian law enforcement officers who had come to all the business structures of this family. What is the position of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs [in this regard]?” RBC had asked Lavrov.

“We see how the interests of the Armenian people have been closely intertwined with the interests of our people for centuries. And always, for very long periods of time, we have been together, in solidarity with each other. Russia has come to the aid of the Armenian people and the leadership of Armenia more than once in difficult situations.

These interests, of course, should prevail. But now the representatives of the current leadership of Yerevan are guided by other issues. The goal of orientation towards the European Union has been declared, a law has been passed on starting the process of accession to the European Union. The countries of the Eurasian Economic Union issued a statement at the May summit, calling on the leadership of Armenia to hold a referendum and decide whether you want the European Union or do you want to remain in the Eurasian Economic Union. In my opinion, [this] is a completely justified demand. The norms of one organization are incompatible with the norms of another. This has been discussed many times already.

But the Prime Minister of Armenia, Mr. [Nikol] Pashinyan, said: ‘when the time comes, I will decide then.’ But what does “when the time comes” mean if you have passed a law on starting the process of Armenia’s accession to the European Union? Literally a few days ago, I read that Mr. Pashinyan said that it will be possible to talk about a referendum when an application [for membership] is submitted to the European Union, there will be a response to it, and a ‘roadmap’ for that membership will be prepared; then there will be the referendum.

This, in my opinion, speaks of not very great trust in the Armenian voters and the Armenian people. It is necessary to show an honest choice between what you are choosing [between joining the European Union and] how you are living now, when in the last three years the trade has exceeded 6 billion dollars, and in one year it also reached 12 billion dollars, and the country has developed thanks to the Eurasian Economic Union,” the Russian foreign minister noted.