YEREVAN. – People close to politics knew very well that Armenia would join the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) without Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), whereas the Artsakh issue can be discussed either as an independent country, or as a separate link.  

Ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP Lernik Aleksanyan told the aforesaid at a press conference on Thursday.
“Armenia aims to enter the Eurasian Economic Union, and it will enter; Artsakh has no connection here. There will be future consequences, one of which is the Artsakh issue; this matter will be resolved in the next phase,” Aleksanyan specifically stated.  

Former MP, non-pro-government Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) member, economist Vardan Bostanjyan, on the other hand, expressed a conviction that nothing was clear and simple.

“If everything was clear, [Armenia might not have] taken part in the European Union forum. I don’t think that a policy should be formed based on simple categories. I realize that the world’s strong and powerful can manifest different approaches, but the Kazakhstan president’s [Nursultan Nazarbayev’s] speech disgusted the Armenian people. At any rate, it was obvious that he could make such a statement, but it was very offensive. [Armenia President] Serzh Sargsyan, on the other hand, should have responded at least in half a word,” Bostanjyan noted, in particular.

The treaty on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) was signed, in the Kazakh capital city Astana on May 29, by the leaders of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. In addition, Armenia President Serzh Sargsyan participated in the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and offered to sign a treaty on Armenia’s Union accession by no later than June 15.

In response, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke about the letter by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev calling to accept Armenia into the Eurasian Union only within the limits of the country’s internationally recognized borders, and not including Nagorno-Karabakh. But Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, stressed the need to sign a respective document with Armenia in the shortest period of time.