Standing next to the president of the European Commission in Yerevan, Armenia's prime minister asked for power lines running to Türkiye.
Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday, 2 July 2026, that Armenia wants to expand energy connectivity with its two neighbors, Türkiye and Azerbaijan, treating grid links as the practical work of the region rather than a symbol. He spoke at a news conference alongside Ursula von der Leyen.
"I consider it important to expand energy interconnectivity, including the construction of power transmission lines and interconnectivity with neighboring Türkiye and Azerbaijan, which can contribute both to energy security and to the green transition," he said.
He wants Armenia in the Black Sea submarine electricity cable project too, and deeper work with the EU on digitalization.
The setting mattered. Von der Leyen used the same appearance to announce an extra 18 million euros ($20.5 million) for Armenia and a set of Autonomous Trade Measures aimed straight at the country's exports.
"They will liberalize almost 80% of Armenian exports to the EU," she said. "That means 80% of your trade with us will now be tariff-free."
Pashinyan pointed out what that makes Armenia: the first country without an EU free-trade agreement to which the bloc applies this instrument.
The measures target goods Armenia still sends mostly to Russia, fresh fruits, vegetables, plants, beverages, and spirits, and open a path for them into an EU single market of 450 million consumers.
That redirection is the whole point. Von der Leyen said Armenia faces "significant economic pressure from Russia," which she called "nothing short of economic coercion." Her stop in Yerevan was part of a regional tour that also took her to Azerbaijan, where she met President Ilham Aliyev.
Pashinyan called the EU "one of Armenia's most trusted partners" and thanked Brussels for 52 million euros ($61 million) in budget support. He said the two sides talked through ways to diversify Armenia's economy, trade, and export markets.
Asked whether Armenia could swing back toward Russia the way it did in 2013, when it dropped an EU Association Agreement for the Eurasian Economic Union, he shut the door. "Yes, I exclude it. It is impossible."
He framed alignment with EU standards as the first strategic task, with full membership a question only for afterward. And he made a point of saying the alignment is for Armenian citizens, not for Brussels. Even if the EU decides against further enlargement, he argued, Armenia comes out ahead by becoming a country that meets EU criteria in full.
Russia was not far from any of it. Pashinyan said Armenia never set out to create a crisis with Moscow and does not aim to now, acting in its own interests while keeping partners' interests in view, though he added that no partner's interests can sit above Armenia's. A phone call earlier in the week with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin came at his own initiative, he said, and the two agreed to hold more detailed talks soon.
He also said he hoped Armenia would win visa-free travel with the EU by 2029.
Von der Leyen put numbers behind the wider ambition. The EU aims to mobilize up to 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) for transport, energy, and digital projects across the South Caucasus under a new 200 million euro ($227 million) Global Gateway package, with another 20 million euros ($22.7 million) for a program meant to steady border communities.
She said Armenia is moving closer to Europe as the South Caucasus knits together, called last year's initialling of the peace agreement "a history-making moment," and said continued normalization of relations with Türkiye stayed important to all of it.