MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti) — Armenia’s entry into the Eurasian Economic Union is supported by virtually every political group in the country, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volinkin told journalists on Saturday following a Friday meeting of a coalition of the country’s liberal opposition parties.
“Listening to the speeches made by the opposition, one notes that almost all of them are in favor of preserving Armenia’s status [as a candidate for entry into] the Eurasian Economic Union. Apart from maybe one group, no one is against it.”
At a meeting of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), a coalition of 13 classical liberal opposition parties on Friday, coalition leader and former Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan noted that Armenia’s accession to the EEU is irreversible, and that any opposition to it is not only too late, but also dangerous, pointing to the example of Ukraine.
Ter-Petrosyan, the country’s first president, served between 1991 and 1998. He noted that even the West has been sympathetic to Armenia’s choice, and that a small group of people was unjustifiably trying to provoke anti-Russian sentiment in the country. Only the leader of the “Heritage” party Raffi Hovannisian has stepped out against Armenian accession to the EEU. Heritage controls just four of the 131 seats in Armenia’s unicameral legislature, the National Assembly, which is dominated by the center-right Republican Party (70 seats) and the economically liberal, socially conservative
Prosperous Armenia party (36 seats). The Armenian National Congress holds seven seats in the legislature.
Commenting on Ter-Petrosyan’s speech, Volinkin noted that “Armenia’s membership in the EEU is the correct strategic decision, but by no means does it mean that the country will close the door on cooperation with other countries.”
Armenia had been set to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013 in Vilnius, but instead declared its intention to join the Customs Union, and to participate in the Eurasian integration project that currently includes Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The three countries have ratified the EEU treaty, which will come into force January 2015. Armenia signed on at the beginning of October, with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan also expressing interest in joining the organization.
