Macron and Pashinyan sang Aznavour at a dinner in Yerevan: EU leaders visited Armenia in hopes of reducing Russia's influence there.

During a state dinner in Yerevan on May 5, 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly took the microphone and performed Charles Aznavour's iconic song "La Bohème." Aznavour is a French singer of Armenian descent. Accompanying Macron on drums was Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who enthusiastically joined in the musical number. Behind the French president, Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan sang along. A local jazz musician played the piano.

The joint musical performance of the French and Armenian leaders became the "seasoning" for two important political events. The 8th European Political Community (EPC) summit was held in Yerevan on May 4–5, 2026, along with the first-ever bilateral Armenia-EU summit. The EPC was attended by leaders of nearly 50 countries, writes Air force.

The main topics of discussion were security in Europe, support for Ukraine, the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as deepening Armenia's cooperation with the European Union in the areas of security, energy, transport, digitalization, and the economy.

On the subject: Vance visited Armenia: this is the first-ever visit to the country by a high-level American politician.

The ENP summit was held in the South Caucasus for the first time. It was attended by over forty leaders from European countries and partners, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who became the first non-European guest at such a summit.

The event was held under the motto “Building the Future: Unity and Stability in Europe.”

 

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One of the highlights (besides, of course, the musical performance by Pashinyan and Macron) was the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev via video link. European Council President António Costa emphasized that it was the ENP platform that helped launch the peace process that led to the historic agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2025.

The summit did not adopt binding legal decisions; the ENP remains an informal platform for political dialogue and bilateral meetings.

The event took place immediately before the first bilateral EU-Armenia summit, further underscoring Yerevan's pivot toward Europe. The next ENP summit is scheduled for autumn 2026 in Ireland.

Russia is watching

It is significant that Armenia, a country long considered Russia's closest ally in the South Caucasus, was chosen as the venue for both events.

The symbolic significance of this event for a country with a population of less than three million is difficult to overstate: Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, and Moscow has established a military base on Armenian territory.

On May 5, the first-ever bilateral EU-Armenia summit took place with the participation of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council António Costa.

Armenia is heavily dependent on Russia for energy resources. It buys Russian gas at a discounted price—a point Putin emphasized when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Moscow on April 1.

Russia sells gas to Armenia at a price of $177,50 per 1000 cubic meters, he noted, while in Europe its price is $600.

How did a country so deeply embedded in Russia's orbit end up hosting most of Europe's leaders?

The turning point was the end of the long-standing war between Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan.

When Azerbaijan launched a lightning military operation in 2023, completing the takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh and forcing more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the region, Russia, which had peacekeepers there, did not intervene.

Earlier Azerbaijani incursions into Armenian territory also went unanswered by the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.

"It has become clear to us that the security architecture we are in is not working," Sargis Khandanyan, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the National Assembly of Armenia, told the BBC.

A year earlier, the EU brokered a border recognition agreement and deployed a civilian monitoring mission.

"The physical presence of the European Union has changed the perception of our citizens," Khandanyan noted. "We realized that there is public demand for closer relations with the EU."

In March 2025, the Armenian parliament passed a law to begin the EU accession process.

The peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan has also accelerated.

In August, their leaders signed a landmark agreement at the White House aimed at ending decades of conflict between them.

There they also announced the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" – a major transport corridor that will run along Armenia's border with Iran, linking the region with European markets.

However, the peace process between the two neighbors remains fragile, and Europe's rapprochement with Armenia comes at a diplomatic cost.

Azerbaijan's parliament voted last week to suspend ties with the European Parliament over a resolution by MEPs calling for the right of return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians who fled the region in 2023 and the release of Armenian prisoners held in Baku.

Meanwhile, Moscow is watching with undisguised irritation as Armenia's relations with the EU become increasingly warm.

During a meeting in the Kremlin, Putin chuckled when Pashinyan spoke about freedoms in his country.

"Social media in Armenia is 100% free, without restrictions," he told the Russian leader. In Russia, all major Western platforms are blocked.

But Putin reminded Pashinyan that seeking EU membership was incompatible with participation in the Eurasian Economic Union: "It is impossible to be in the Customs Union with both the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union at the same time."

Just a few days before the EPC summit, Russia banned the import of Armenian mineral water.

Cyberattacks by Russian hackers and information leaks

"This is a typical example of how hybrid threats work," said Artur Papyan of CyberHUB-AM, an organization that monitors Armenia's information space.

He noted that statements by high-ranking officials in support of the EU or visits to Brussels were often accompanied by decisions to detain Armenian trucks at the Georgian-Russian border and threats by hackers to disable government websites.

Last month, the EU approved a new civilian mission to Armenia for the next two years to counter Russian disinformation, cyberattacks and illicit financial flows, especially ahead of parliamentary elections in June.

It is modeled on a similar EU mission in Moldova ahead of the 2025 elections, in which pro-European forces retained power.

In January, Papyan's team detected a massive attack on WhatsApp, which compromised an estimated several hundred thousand accounts. This platform, he says, is widely used by ministers and officials.

In another operation, hackers created a fake Signal account and, posing as EU Ambassador to Armenia Vasilis Maragos, invited NGO leaders to a fake conference on Armenia-EU relations.

The registration link appeared legitimate. Even experienced civil society representatives were misled. When the attack was traced, the IP addresses pointed to the Russian city of Zelenograd, northwest of Moscow.

Ahead of the Yerevan summits, Papyan said that in just one morning, he counted six or seven spikes in Telegram posts promoting the same narrative: these events are a point of no return for Armenia and Russia will punish the country for hosting them.

"Armenia's democratic institutions are functioning and have made real progress, but they are under pressure," said Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset, who attended the summits.

His main concerns ahead of Armenia's June elections are external interference, disinformation, and political polarization online.

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He believes that Armenia has some legal instruments to counter these threats, but, like many countries, “they are not yet fully adapted to the scale and complexity of the threat.”

There are no deadlines for Armenia's EU accession, no defense commitments, and no plans to replace Russian gas supplies. Without such firm commitments, Armenia's "balancing act" between Russia and the West is far from complete.

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