Russia recalled its ambassador to Armenia, Sergei Kopyrkin, to Moscow for consultations amid Yerevan’s continued rapprochement with the European Union.
The Russian Foreign Ministry linked the decision to the Armenian leadership’s European foreign-policy course.
The move came shortly before Armenia’s parliamentary election and marked a new stage in the sharp deterioration of relations between the two countries.
Armenia remains a member of the Eurasian Economic Union but has significantly expanded political and economic cooperation with Western countries in recent years under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.