Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed an agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union at a summit held in Astana on May 29. The summit was also attended by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who, however, did not sign the agreement, but asked for time until June 15. He said that “mutually acceptable solutions” on the remaining issues could be solved “within two-three days.”

Armenia refuses to say what these “remaining issues” are. Instead, it was President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev who revealed problems with the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Kazakh leader unexpectedly stated that all three presidents had received a letter from President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, in which he “recommends” that Armenia join the Eurasian Union within its borders recognized by the United Nations and in which it also joined the World Trade Organization.

In fact, Nazarbayev “opened a secret” that the issue of Armenia`s entry in some other boundaries, in other words along with Karabakh or with open borders with it, had been discussed. The Armenian side neither objected nor agreed with what was suggested, instead it asked for time.

However, Armenia`s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Manaseryan, speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh problem in the context of the Eurasian Union, said: “Conceptual issues are not being discussed, they have been solved. The Nagorno-Karabakh problem is a conceptual one, and the existing differences concern technical issues.”

Nazarbayev`s statement caused a real storm within public circles in Armenia. Former foreign minister, opposition lawmaker Alexander Arzumanyan in this connection raised the issue of the status of Crimea in the Armenian parliament. “How can Russia enter the Eurasian Union with Crimea that has not been recognized by any state, and Armenia is admitted only within the borders recognized by the UN?” he underscored. Besides, in Armenia many are “surprised” that the borders of the country that is entering some union are determined by Azerbaijan that has nothing to do with this union.

Russian political analyst Mikhail Alexandrov considers the statement about “internationally recognized borders” to be quite normal. “How can Armenia join the Eurasian Union if Karabakh is an independent state and has not made a request for accession to the Union, together with Armenia or without it,” the Russian expert commented.

This judgment seems logical, but it raises the question as to what borders Armenia intended to join the Eurasian Union and whether it filed its request for entry within the borders recognized by the UN. Or maybe Armenia demanded an open border with Karabakh and the Eurasian leaders, upon the recommendation of President Aliyev, pronounced against it? Or maybe Azerbaijan is also soon going to join this Union and is preparing the ground for its admission “within the UN-recognized borders”? As is known, the UN recognizes Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan`s territory.

Anyway, Armenian diplomacy has two difficult weeks ahead. Yerevan will either have to agree to the actual closing of the border with Karabakh, which has already been ruled out by the leaderships in both Armenia and the NKR, or it will have to abandon the intention to join the Eurasian Union. Another option is an urgent initiation of the NKR`s recognition and its unification with Armenia. But in the past the Armenian government repeatedly said that formally recognizing Karabakh would mean Armenia`s withdrawal from internationally mediated negotiations and could trigger a war with Azerbaijan.

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