A delegation of EU presidents arrived in Yerevan, where the 8th summit and the first summit between Armenia and the EU are scheduled to be held on May 4-5.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Council Antonio Costa, President of the European Parliament Roberta Mitsola and Head of European Diplomacy Kaya Kallas have already arrived in the capital of Armenia.
In addition, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Moldavian President Maia Sandu and others are in Yerevan.
On Sunday afternoon, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky also arrived in the capital of Armenia. He has already held a series of meetings with the heads of government of Norway, Finland, Great Britain and the Czech Republic. The Ukrainian leader will take advantage of this summit to discuss with European partners more military assistance to Kiev and the prospects for negotiations to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Armenia has long been considered one of Russia’s closest allies in the post-Soviet region. The country, along with Russia, is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (). There is a Russian military base on the territory of Armenia in the city of Gyumri. Now Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is calling for rapprochement between Yerevan and the European Union, which angers the Kremlin.