If Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says that Armenia will get rich without Russia, then let him try. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with IS “Vesti”.

“I cannot comment on the statements of the Armenian leader. If he thinks that she will get richer, let her provide,” Lavrov said.

Earlier, at a meeting with voters in the city of Garni, Pashinyan said that Armenia is not afraid of high prices for raw materials in case of deterioration of ties with Russia, as the country “plans to get rich.”

As EADaily reported, according to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, Russia has already warned Armenia about the possible termination of the agreement on the supply of gas, petroleum products and diamonds if Yerevan joins the EU.

More details: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2026/05/28/lavrov-if-pashinyan-thinks-that-armenia-will-get-rich-without-russia-let-him-try

Russia has sharpened its warning to Armenia over the costs of drifting westward, threatening to withdraw preferential fuel agreements if Yerevan continues its tentative march towards the European Union — a sign that the Kremlin is no longer prepared to tolerate ambiguity in the South Caucasus.

The warning, delivered days before Armenia’s parliamentary election on June 7th, underscores how the region has become another front in the broader geopolitical struggle between Moscow and the West. For Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has spent the past two years distancing his country from Russia after the collapse of Armenian control in Nagorno-Karabakh, the message from the Kremlin was blunt: closer ties with Brussels could come at a steep economic price.

For decades, Armenia was among Russia’s closest post-Soviet allies, hosting Russian military facilities and participating in Moscow-led political and economic structures such as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. But relations deteriorated sharply after Azerbaijan’s 2023 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, when many Armenians concluded that Russia had failed to honour its role as security guarantor.

Since then, Pashinyan’s government has sought to cultivate stronger links with Washington and Brussels. Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a strategic partnership agreement in Yerevan, signalling growing American interest in the South Caucasus.

Armenia has also formally launched an EU accession process, a move welcomed rhetorically by European officials but viewed with open hostility in Moscow. Russian officials have repeatedly insisted that membership of the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union are incompatible, accusing Brussels of drawing Armenia into what the Kremlin describes as an “anti-Russian orbit”.

Yet despite the increasingly pro-European rhetoric emerging from Yerevan, the prospect of Armenia becoming a full EU member remains remote at best.

Even within Brussels there is little serious expectation that Armenia could join the bloc in the foreseeable future. The country is geographically isolated from the EU, locked in unresolved regional tensions, economically dependent on Russia, and still formally embedded within Moscow’s customs and economic structures. Any accession process would likely take many years even under ideal political conditions.

Moreover, the EU itself is struggling with enlargement fatigue. The accession ambitions of Ukraine, Moldova and several Western Balkan states already present Brussels with formidable institutional and financial challenges. Against that backdrop, Armenia is unlikely to move anywhere near the front of the queue.

European officials have carefully avoided offering Armenia any concrete timetable for membership, preferring instead to frame the relationship in terms of “partnership”, democratic reforms, and regulatory alignment. Even supporters of Armenia’s westward turn privately acknowledge that accession is more aspirational than realistic.

For Pashinyan, however, the symbolism matters almost as much as the substance. Closer ties with Europe offer both domestic political capital and a strategic hedge against overreliance on Russia. Opinion polls ahead of the election suggest his Civil Contract party remains comfortably ahead despite economic anxieties and criticism from pro-Russian opponents.

But Armenia’s manoeuvring room remains narrow.

Russia still dominates much of the country’s energy sector and remains a critical trade partner. Any serious disruption to fuel supplies or preferential pricing could hit Armenian households and businesses hard at a time when the economy is already under pressure from regional instability.

The Kremlin appears increasingly determined to force former Soviet allies into making a binary choice between Russia and the West. Armenia, however, has long attempted to balance both sides simultaneously — benefiting from Russian security and energy ties while cautiously expanding relations with Europe and the United States.

That balancing act is becoming harder to sustain.

As the election approaches, Pashinyan is effectively gambling that Armenia can loosen Moscow’s grip without provoking outright economic retaliation. Whether that calculation proves sustainable may determine not only Armenia’s geopolitical future, but also the stability of the wider South Caucasus.

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he would support Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections, a vote that serves as a litmus test for the government of the South Caucasus nation which has recently shifted its alignment toward the West and distanced itself from Russia.

US President Donald Trump voiced support on Wednesday for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the upcoming elections, which polls show as an exceedingly tight race.

The June 7 parliamentary vote is seen as a litmus test for Pashinyan’s moves to loosen Armenian dependence on Moscow while forging closer ties with the West.

The South Caucasus nation is also still reeling from Azerbaijan’s 2023 military takeover of the Karabakh region and the mass exodus of its 100,000 ethnic Armenians.

Armenia agreed as part of a US-brokered peace deal to establish a transit corridor through its territory that would connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave – dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said “soon, the United States and Armenia will break ground together” on the TRIPP, “which will transform the South Caucasus, and help our wonderful American Energy Companies gain access from Central Asia all the way to the United States”.

He called Pashinyan “a great friend and Leader” who was “making his Country strong, wealthy, and very secure!”

“Nikol completely shares my vision of PEACE and PROSPERITY for Armenia and the entire South Caucasus region,” Trump wrote.

“For these reasons, Nikol has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for Re-Election on June 7, 2026,” Trump said, copying his favored formulation for his frequent domestic political endorsements.

Pashinyan thanked Trump in an X post Thursday for his “high appreciation and friendly words”.

The endorsement comes a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Armenia on a return trip from his multi-day tour of India.

Trump, in his post on Wednesday, said that Rubio had “advanced several important Deals for both our Countries”.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20260528-trump-endorses-armenian-prime-minister-nikol-pashinyan-ahead-of-tense-june-poll