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A package of documents was approved during Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s official visit to the Russian Federation. It included a joint statement by the leaders of both states, an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in information security and a number of documents, signed by relevant agencies of both sides, on cooperation in the legal, cultural, social and labour spheres, and on plant quarantine measures. A comprehensive programme for Russian-Armenian cooperation in the field of energy and non-energy projects was also approved.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Prime Minister,

It is a pleasure to see you.

Your visit marks the 30^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries. I know your itinerary here is quite extensive and includes meetings with senior officials from the Government, the Federal Assembly and a trip to Nizhny Novgorod.

The signing of several documents is planned, to be added to a rather substantial base. In recent years, we have signed 200 bilateral documents to regulate our legal relations, enabling us to cooperate in almost all areas.

Obviously, the economy is one of the leading fields. Our mutual trade grew by 12.8 percent in 2021. During the first months of 2022, it additionally grew by 50 percent. This is a pretty good result, especially in the current conditions.

Today, we will also discuss security, including Karabakh. I agree that many issues remain to be resolved. We maintain constant contact. We speak over the phone every week or every ten days. We also meet regularly, despite the ongoing pandemic.

I am very happy to see you. Welcome.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan: Thank you.

Mr President,

First of all, I would like to thank you for inviting me on an official visit to the Russian Federation. As you have said, this visit is not just a practical one, but it also has a symbolic significance, because it has been timed to the 30^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries and is evidence of the high standards of our bilateral relations. I hope that this visit will help maintain and even accelerate the development of our ties.

We maintain regular contact; indeed, we meet often and have regular telephone conversations partly because we have a busy agenda of bilateral relations in virtually all spheres, from the economy to culture, education and military-technical cooperation.

Russia is Armenia’s strategic ally and partner. We are effectively cooperating in the Eurasian Economic Union, the CIS and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. It is clear to everyone that Russia plays a key role in ensuring stability and security in our region.

I would like to point out again the exceptional role you played in stopping the shooting and hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. Since then, Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is notable that, overall, the Russian peacekeepers are maintaining security in the region. However, we need to consider ways to make their operations more effective.

Of course, the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is the main political issue in our region. I am sure that we will be able to discuss it today.

It is true that the itinerary of my visit is very ambitious, but many of the issues have to do with our talks and our meeting today. I am sure that our talks will be productive.

Once again, thank you. It is a pleasure to meet with you again.

Vladimir Putin: You mentioned cooperation in culture. We have timed the Days of Armenian Culture in Russia and the Days of Russian Spiritual Culture in Armenia to your visit and the 30^th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. I believe this will also draw public attention and will be very useful.