“The only way Russia can impact Armenia now is economic,” Fanyan said.
But that is still a significant weapon for Moscow to wield. Russia supplies Armenia with gas at $177.50 (£87) per 1,000 cubic metres, while European market prices, as Putin pointed out to Pashinyan in April, exceed $600.
In late May, the Russian president also called on Armenia to hold a referendum “as soon as possible” on whether to join the EU or remain in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), a customs bloc from which Armenia benefits.
Pashinyan swerved the challenge. Despite his developing, good-natured relationship with European leaders, Armenia doesn’t even have EU candidate status yet, and membership of the bloc is still a long way off.
“We will continue to work within the EAEU until the choice between its current membership and the EU becomes unavoidable,” he said. “Today this choice is theoretical in nature.”
Still, the EU is not standing back idly. On Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged €50m (£43m) for Armenia in the face of what she said was a case of “Moscow weaponising economic relations for political pressure”, and added the EU would ease trade with Yerevan for goods targeted by Moscow.