Pashinyan: I will not go to the EAEU summit, and if we want to leave, we will do without a referendum

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will not attend the EAEU summit in Astana on May 28-29 "because of the election campaign," instead Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan will represent Armenia.

According to Pashinyan, he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow on April 1. He also added that if Armenia withdraws from the EAEU, it will not do so suddenly, but planned, so there will be no need to hold a referendum on this issue.

"If we leave the EAEU, we will leave planned, not suddenly. If you noticed, we are not going to do anything suddenly," Pashinyan said. — My assessment is that there is simply no objective need. We have great respect for our partners in the EAEU, we have great respect for our participation in the EAEU... We pursue a balanced foreign policy, one of the key principles of which is our relations based on respect and recognition of mutual interests."

As EADaily reported, on May 9, Vladimir Putin urged the Armenian leadership to resolve the issue of participation in the EU or the EAEU without delay, possibly by organizing a referendum. Before that, he had repeatedly stressed that the republic has the right to choose its own partners, but it is impossible to be in the customs union with both of them.