The summit scheduled for Monday is due to bring together leaders of European Union member and partner states as well as Canada. The EU initiated the annual forums following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Citing unnamed government sources, the Armenian newspaper 168 Zham reported earlier this week that Zelenskyy will arrive in the Armenian capital. Pashinian said in this regard that he has been invited to attend the upcoming summit.
“Yes, we are expecting all members of the European political community, including the president of Ukraine,” he told reporters.
A diplomatic source in Brussels told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that Zelenskyy is expected to attend the summit. His participation has not yet been officially confirmed. The Ukrainian leader visited neighboring Azerbaijan last week.
His anticipated trip to Yerevan could add to Armenia’s lingering tensions with Russia. President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have warned in recent weeks that the South Caucasus country, which still hosts a Russian military base, would pay a heavy economic price for its government’s continued drift to the EU.
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said in July 2024 that Yerevan should not follow Kyiv’s example in reorienting Armenian foreign policy towards the West. Another Russian official claimed earlier that Pashinian is “following in Zelenskyy’s footsteps” and helping the West “turn Armenia into another Ukraine.”
Pashinian for the first time publicly denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2024. An Armenian diplomatic source told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service at the time that Zelenskyy is planning to visit Yerevan in March 2024. The visit did not take place, however.
