Although Armenia is not mentioned in the draft of the final declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in the Lithuanian capital city Vilnius, this does not mean we should not continue relations with Europe. 

Diplomat.am Director, Ambassador Arman Navasardyan told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am. 

“But a selective, or a gradual, process is taking place. Much also depends on our collaboration with the [Russia-led] Customs Union [CU],” Navasardyan noted.    

Reflecting on Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s proposal to include Turkey in the CU, he maintained that Russia cannot have a negative position toward Armenia and, in all probability, these are propaganda steps.     

“Russia has its [own] path. The Customs Union itself has problems. [And] Nazarbayev did not just recall accepting Turkey into the CU. 

“And, it is hard to say to what extent [Belarus President Alexander] Lukashenko would fit in the CU,” Arman Navasardyan concluded.  

To note, following the talks that were held on September 3 in Moscow between Armenian and Russian Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin, Sargsyan had announced that Armenia plans to join the Customs Union and subsequently engage in the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union. Aside from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan likewise are members in the Customs Union. And in response to this development, the European Union had stated that the signing of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement is now doubtful.