Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that any referendum on Armenia's potential membership in the European Union can only take place after the country formally applies to join the 27-member bloc.
"Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized that holding a referendum is practically possible only after Armenia submits an official application to the European Union for EU membership and makes the topic substantive,” a statement by Pashinyan's office said after a phone call between Pashinyan and Putin.
The statement said Pashinyan’s remarks came with regards to the topic of holding such a referendum in Armenia, which it said is also written in a joint statement adopted after a Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) leaders meeting in May.
Following the EAEU meeting in the Kazakh capital Astana on May 29, the Russian president, as well as the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, said in a joint statement that they shared the need to hold a nationwide referendum in the South Caucasus nation on EU accession or continued EAEU membership "as soon as possible.”
The EAEU was formed under a treaty signed in May 2014 that entered into force in January 2015. Its members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. The economic union also includes four observer states, i.e. Cuba, Iran, Moldova, and Uzbekistan.
