Nikol Pashinyan, Vladimir Putin Hold Private Talks

• 01.12.2021, 09:35
•  EEU,  World,  Armenia

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with RF President Vladimir Putin on the margins of his working visit to the Russian Federation.

Greeting the Prime Minister of Armenia, Vladimir Putin said:
“Mr Prime Minister,

I would like to welcome you again – this time to our bilateral meeting. I would like to thank you for agreeing to come to Moscow today.

I believe that indeed, despite the problems you mentioned, which remain outstanding, I hope we will still be able to come to terms on the remaining problems including the humanitarian issues. I think that in general this meeting has been useful for determining the future of the region and the development of relations in the region, primarily between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

I will say that we have certainly had and will have allied relations in all respects and we are close partners in many international organisations.

However, today we spoke at length about the economy. I would like to mention in this context that despite the complicated year and despite all the difficulties, we still increased our trade by almost 4 percent, 3.9 percent in January-October, 2020.

All this makes it possible to hope that as the settlement of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh moves forward, we will make decisions that will definitely benefit the Armenian people, the Armenian state and our bilateral ties.”

Prime Minister Pashinyan said in his remarks:
“Thank you, Mr President.

Today, for over four hours, we talked in a trilateral format, and I am happy that after these talks, we have at least some results, and these results are important. I am confident that the implementation of the agreements formulated in our joint Statement can seriously change the economic potential of our region and substantially enhance its investment appeal.

However, as I also said, I think these economic issues are being complicated by the lack of progress on humanitarian matters. And, of course, as I said, the most sensitive issues for us and I think for all of us, are humanitarian matters linked with the prisoners of war, missing people, and the exchange of bodies. I would like to thank you for upholding and supporting this position.

Of course, your personal contribution to the peace process has always been very tangible and is particularly special now, after the relevant events. I hope relations between Armenia and Russia will become deeper against the backdrop of these events. Russia has been and remains our main strategic ally in the security sphere. Of course, we still need to discuss not only the future of our region but also the agenda of our bilateral ties.”

Issues related to the outcome of the trilateral meeting of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan and the full implementation of the provisions of the November 9 statement were discussed during the meeting. In particular, the parties focused on issues related to the effective implementation of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh, cooperation in the field of ceasefire control, and the possibility of unblocking transport infrastructure in the region.

Prime Minister Pashinyan thanked the Russian side for establishing an interdepartmental humanitarian center in Nagorno-Karabakh, the primary goal of which is to restore normal life in the region. At the same time, the Prime Minister of Armenia welcomed Russia’s efforts aimed at involving international organizations in humanitarian activities in Artsakh.

Nikol Pashinyan and Vladimir Putin also discussed issues related to Armenian-Russian interstate relations, including economic cooperation.