The unprecedented, illegal, and unilateral restrictive measures imposed by the West in recent months on Russia and Belarus could not but affect the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states, as their economies are interconnected within a single market. Mikhail Evdokimov, director of the First Department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told this to RIA Novosti.

"The main focus of the [EEU] ‘five’ is put on mitigating the negative consequences of Western sanctions, securing the EEU market with the necessary goods (both industrial and agricultural). In this context, the policy of import substitution has the greatest effect," Evdokimov added.

To note, Armenia also is a member in the Eurasian Economic Union.