Dmitry Medvedev warns Armenia that closer ties with the West could turn the country into a “new Ukraine”

Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warned Armenia that its growing rapprochement with the West could have negative consequences and compared the situation to the Ukrainian scenario.

The statement was made in the context of the leadership in Yerevan attempting to change Armenia’s development direction and foreign policy. Medvedev argued that the current leadership had deliberately chosen a different orientation, which, he claimed, “will not lead to anything good.”

The Russian official explicitly pointed to Ukraine as an example Armenia should avoid. “The worst thing that could happen to Armenia would be for it to turn into a new Ukraine,” Medvedev said, according to RBC Ukraine.

Tensions between Moscow and Yerevan over Armenia’s foreign orientation became public in September, when Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took divergent positions. Putin urged Armenia to choose between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union and warned of the consequences for its relationship with the Russia-led bloc.