YERAVAN: Armenia's parliament on March 26 passed a bill launching Yerevan's bid for European Union membership, as the historically Russia-allied country drifts further away from Moscow's orbit.
The landlocked Caucasus nation has in recent years grown increasingly close to the West, frustrated by what it says was Moscow's failure to protect it from arch-foe Azerbaijan.
Adopted in final reading with 64 votes in favour -- all from lawmakers of the ruling Civil Contract party -- and seven opposition MPs voting against, the bill calls on the Armenian government to initiate the process of EU accession.
"The Republic of Armenia... is announcing the launch of the process of the accession of the Republic of Armenia into the European Union," the text reads.
Ties between Yerevan and Moscow plummeted dramatically following Azerbaijan's 2023 lightning offensive that routed Armenian-backed separatists in Baku's Karabakh region.
Armenia accused Russia, which had almost 2,000 troops stationed in the region, of doing nothing to prevent the fighting and the subsequent exodus of more than 100,000 Armenians from the region.
Four days after the offensive, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told the nation in a televised address that Yerevan's current security alliances were "ineffective" and "insufficient".
In February 2024, he froze Armenia's participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a defence grouping of several ex-Soviet states similar to NATO.
Yerevan also joined the International Criminal Court (ICC), against Moscow's wishes -- a move that obliges the country to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin should he visit Armenia.
It launched visa liberalisation talks with the European Union in September 2024 and deepened its defence ties with France.
In July 2024, it held military drills with US troops.
Moscow has reacted with dismay to the moves, accusing Yerevan of trying to rupture ties.
Russia announced it was pulling its peacekeepers from Karabakh last year and removing some troops and border guards from the Caucasus state.