Russia has received official notification from Armenia that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will not be able to participate in the Eurasian Economic Union summit, but the issue is not his absence itself — rather that it is becoming “a pattern,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Earlier, Pashinyan announced that he would not attend the EAEU summit scheduled for May 28-29 in Astana. Armenia will be represented at the summit by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan.

According to the Russian diplomat, there have previously been situations in which representatives of EAEU member states — not only Armenia but also other countries — missed meetings of the bloc’s bodies for various reasons, Sputnik Armenia reported.

“This is not desirable, this is not what they strive for, but such things happen,” Zakharova said.

However, she argued that Pashinyan’s approach toward the EAEU was now becoming a systemic phenomenon.

Zakharova stated that Pashinyan’s absence from the summit was not a tragedy for the union itself.

“There is no tragedy for the union itself. The issue lies within Armenia,” she said.

According to Zakharova, Moscow prefers to assess the situation based on the concrete practical steps taken by the Armenian government in implementing its pro-European course and on how those actions affect the Eurasian Economic Union.

“We said from the very beginning that it is impossible to combine membership in the EAEU with the introduction of supranational regulatory mechanisms of another integration bloc,” the diplomat said.

She added that Russia had repeatedly raised the issue “comprehensively and at all levels.”

According to Zakharova, the reason is that European Union institutions pursue what she described as a “destructive policy” and impose unlawful sanctions against EAEU member states.

“This fully contradicts cooperation not because we oppose combining different forms of cooperation. On the contrary, we have always said that it is possible to harmoniously combine cooperation in different directions. But that was possible until direct blows began coming from the Western European direction, and until this turned into a hybrid war, including in the economic sphere,” Zakharova explained.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated remotely in the EAEU summit held in Minsk in May 2025. He also did not attend the EAEU and CIS intergovernmental meetings held in Bishkek in the autumn of 2023, where Armenia was again represented by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan.

On May 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated during a press conference that Yerevan should clarify as soon as possible its position regarding participation in either the European Union or the EAEU, without ruling out the possibility of an “intelligent separation.” For his part, Pashinyan told journalists on May 11 that Armenia remains a full-fledged member of the EAEU and that a referendum on the issue could only take place in the event of “objective necessity.”

At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Yerevan had violated its promise not to take steps against Russia, while the silence of Western leaders and the Armenian side regarding threats made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy against veterans of the Great Patriotic War had already “entered the historical chronicles.”