Yerevan and Minsk Rejected Draft of Riga Communiqué because of Phrase about Crimea

Armenia and Belarus refused to sign any final communiqué of the Eastern Partnership summit, which will contain a phrase of "the annexation of Crimea." It is reported by Reuters citing European diplomats who participated in the discussion of the text of the document.

The interlocutor of the agency said that the talks in Brussels, where they discussed the final text of the joint statement, were "not easy." He noted that Armenia and Belarus refused to sign the text if it says about "the annexation of Crimea." According to him, EU diplomats have to develop a compromise text. He added that the success of the summit will depend on how the leaders will formulate the details of this statement and "how it will be read by Moscow."

In the final document, according to the agency, the European Union will include the condemnation of joining Crimea to Russia, and it will be referred to the position of all the other countries participating in the summit, expressed when they voted in the UN in March 2014. Then, as reminds Reuters, Armenia and Belarus supported Moscow's position.

The summit of Eastern Partnership opens in Riga on Thursday, 21 May. It will be attended by representatives of the EU and the six countries of the former Soviet Union: Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

On Friday, the summit should make a final joint communiqué. Today the summit participants will discuss the draft of this document.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said earlier that Moscow will closely monitor the summit as "fundamentally, the partnership has a strong anti-Russian meaning." -02D-