On Monday, 22nd December in St. Petersburg, Russian president,Vladimir Putin met with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.
Earlier, both took part in a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, as well as an informal meeting of CIS leaders at the State Hermitage Museum.
Welcoming the Armenian leader Putin said,
Dear Nikol Vovayevich, I would like to welcome you once again and thank you for taking part in these events within the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS.
We've already exchanged assessments of our work yesterday and today. Overall, I think it all went very well. I hope the atmosphere was good, but most importantly, our teams worked hard on all fronts and prepared good documents, everything has been signed, and everything is moving forward.
As for bilateral relations, they are developing. Our trade turnover has improved, as we discussed yesterday. While it was over $11 billion in 2024, it has reached $4.5 billion in the first nine months of this year. This is also a good indicator and gives us reason to believe that we will continue to increase this in the near future.
We have good plans, too. We've already discussed energy, including nuclear power. We won't go into detail now, but it's an opportunity to discuss and have a conversation.
Regarding logistics as well: at our last meeting, you raised various issues we could work on together. I'm thinking of restoring old routes and creating new ones that open up Armenia's borders.
So, overall, everything is progressing for us. There are, of course, other issues that we'll discuss now.
I'm very glad to see you. Thank you for being here.
In reply, Nikol Pashinyan said,
Thank you very much, Vladimir Vladimirovich, for the invitation.
I think we spent a very rich two days together, both in the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS formats. Of course, some very important decisions were made, and now the logical conclusion of my working visit to St. Petersburg has been reached.
Of course, very important and, fortunately, positive developments are taking place in our region. And I would like to thank you for your support of the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan. And as we discussed in our telephone conversation after August 8 , the peace achieved will open new opportunities for the further development of bilateral relations between Armenia and Russia.
And this has already happened, since trains are already coming from Russia to Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan, which, I think, is a truly historic event.
And, as you've already mentioned, new opportunities are opening up—and the agenda is already ripe: the restoration of several other railway sections in our country. I'm thinking, in particular, of the Ijevan, Yeraskh, and Akhurik sectors—the railways connecting Armenia with Azerbaijan, mainland Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan, and Turkey.
Because there's a fairly active political process underway. I can't say there are any political decisions yet about opening these railways, but I think the situation has reached the point where preparatory work needs to be done.
We are currently also holding very constructive bilateral negotiations with the United States regarding the commencement of the implementation and construction of the TRIPP road.
These are truly significant and meaningful changes in our region. And there are many nuances here, concerning our bilateral relations with the Russian Federation. Today, I think, is a very good opportunity to discuss all these issues.
Thank you again for the invitation, for the wonderful program, for the wonderful atmosphere and the very high-quality organization of the business and cultural events.
source: commonspace.eu with kremlin.ru (Moscow)
