Tsarukyan warns of strategic choice dilemma

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan said that Russia is effectively telling Armenia to choose between alliances.

Speaking during a meeting with residents in Martuni, Gegharkunik region, Tsarukyan addressed Armenia’s relations with Moscow.

“Today, Europe is an enemy of Russia, while we are friendly and allied states with Russia. If we want to act otherwise and move toward Russia’s enemy, Russia tells us: choose,” he said.

During another meeting in Noratus, Tsarukyan also commented on the April 1 talks in Moscow between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“What is Putin saying? If we are partners, if we are together, we must maintain friendship and protect each other’s interests. If you are not on our side, then you are on the side of our opponent — our enemy — and our relations will shift. That’s it. We must fully agree with our allies,” Tsarukyan stated.

It was also announced that on April 9, the Prosperous Armenia Party will hold its congress and present its Proposal to Armenia program and team, according to party spokesperson Iveta Tonoyan.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Armenia’s simultaneous participation in both the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the European Union’s customs system is economically impossible.

“At some point, perhaps years later, we — the Eurasian structures and the European Union — may find ways to cooperate. But even before the Ukraine crisis, when we tried to reach agreements with Europeans, it did not work. They took a very rigid stance on nearly every issue,” Putin said.