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“Armenia chooses Russia over EU,” headlines the European Voice after the news Yerevan will join Russia’s trade body the Eurasian Customs Union, instead of signing the free-trade deal it spent several months negotiating with the European Union.
The surprise decision follows a Russian request for meeting between Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 30 in Moscow. The EU forbids countries from being members of both its deep and comprehensive free-trade agreement' (DCFTA) and the Customs Union. The weekly continues –
The agreement comes just two days before a G20 summit that Putin will host in St Petersburg (5-6 September), and in the wake of a trade dispute with Ukraine over its bid to sign an association agreement with the EU. The EU's leaders were expected to raise their objections to Russia's pressure on Ukraine at the summit.
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