Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev missed the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg due to a busy work schedule. Aliyev's administration also noted that his absence from the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on December 21 was due to Azerbaijan not being a member of the organization.
New opportunities are being actively discussed in Armenia, including the idea of EU membership. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated this in an interview with TRT World.
The Armenian official noted that Yerevan is “diversifying and expanding its circle of partners,” deepening relations with the EU and the United States. They promote democratic reforms in Armenia.
Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that his country has no choice but to move towards Europe and the West. He also repeatedly criticized the military-political bloc CSTO, which is under Russian influence, and announced the suspension of Armenia’s participation in it. Recently, the country's authorities demanded the removal of Russian border guards from Yerevan airport.