Armenia should hold EU referendum soon, Putin and allies say

Armenia should hold a referendum on EU membership "as soon as possible", President Vladimir Putin and three Russian-allied leaders said in a statement Friday.

Putin said it was time for Armenia to choose between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union, insisting it was “impossible to reconcile the two”. In a joint statement issued earlier at the summit, Putin and the leaders of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan warned Armenia's moves to join the EU posed "significant risks" to the economy of Eurasian Economic Union member states.