Hraparak daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes as follows, in particular: Although a large group in the [Armenian parliament’s] ruling faction was fighting to have the adoption of the draft authored by the Eurovote postponed by the parliament so that the authorities could finally weigh the risks, [PM] Nikol Pashinyan is adamant, and the draft has been included in the agenda of the regular [parliamentary] sessions starting on February 11.

And at the end of the week, or on Monday, the CC [i.e. the ruling Civil Contract Party] is expecting a meeting with Pashinyan, when the prime minister will instruct the backpackers on with what public statements they should make to justify the process, what to say, etc.

The thing is that there are concerns at the CC that Armenia will have serious economic problems after the adoption of the draft on the application for EU membership—the RF [i.e. the Russian Federation] may even raise the matter of removing Armenia from the EAEU [i.e. the Eurasian Economic Union], which could deal a heavy blow to the RA economy. Months ago, the CC had regular discussions on this in a closed format with Pashinyan and other government representatives. And after assessing the risks, they decided to forget about the EU membership application for now.

However, to many people's surprise, Pashinyan gave the green light to the path to the EU with a one-man decision—although he was previously stating that they were not waiting for us [Armenia] there [in the EU]. And at the [recent] press conference, he threw his dangerous decision into the people's pockets, [saying] that they had met the wishes of thousands of [Armenian] citizens who have agreed, by collecting signatures, that Armenia take the Europeanization path.