Moscow sees that Armenia is being prepared for EU membership, which has become an alliance hostile to Russia. This was stated by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk in an interview with TASS, emphasizing that the implementation of this scenario will lead to serious consequences.

“What we see in the example of sudden ups and downs related to the [Armenian] railway concession [management] with the RF [i.e. the Russian Federation] fits into the political logic of rapprochement with the EU—declared by Armenia’s leadership—which is experiencing economic decline and turning into a military-political alliance hostile to Russia. Whether Armenians want to become part of an alliance hostile to Russia depends on them,” Overchuk said.

“It is obvious to us that they are being prepared for such a step, just as the long-term, grave consequences of such a development are obvious,” added the Russian deputy PM.