Wednesday, June 13 2018 21:31

ArmInfo.President of Russia Vladimir Putin met with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, who arrived in Russia for the opening of the World Cup. As the  Kremlin's official website reports, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin represented the Russian side at the meeting.

There are no reports about the representatives of the  Armenian side.  According to kremlin.ru, in a welcome speech, V.Putin  said: ''Dear Nikolay Vladimirovich! We have met not so long ago - in  Sochi on May 14, haven't we? But, considering the strategic nature of  our relations and the large volume of various areas of cooperation, I  think our meetings are always in demand. Thank you for coming, now we  have the opportunity to talk about bilateral affairs within the  framework of an international sport event. The only thing I would  like to say at the beginning is that Russia confidently holds the  first place in the trade turnover with Armenia. We are the number one  partner in the trade and economic fields. Last year, our trade  increased by more than 30 percent, there is a strong growth  registered this year as well. By the way, this is largely due to an  increase in the supply of agricultural products to Russia, to the  Russian market. And of course, obviously Armenia's membership in the  EEU has its positive impact- these are our common assessments. I hope  that we will continue to move in this direction. I am very glad to  see you and talk about the whole complex of our relations. Welcome!   Pashinyan in turn turned to the Head of the Russian state: ''Dear  Vladimir Vladimirovich! First of all, let me congratulate you on the  past holiday - the Day of Russia. Yesterday I was at the Russian  Embassy in Yerevan and congratulated on the occasion. And of course,  I congratulate you on the World Cup, because this is a very important  and great event - of a global scale - and now the attention of the  whole world is focused on Moscow. And thanks for the invitation, of  course. We met a month ago for the first time, and the fact that we  meet in 30 days proves the special nature of the relations between  Armenia and Russia. I think that this also shows that the statements  that were made a month ago are not only justified, but they are now  being implemented. And of course, there is a special relationship  between Armenia and Russia. I am sure that these relations will  continue to be special, will become more special.

Of course, it is very important for us, the government of Armenia,  which represents the people of Armenia, to feel such a reception in  Russia - in Sochi, Moscow. This underlines the atmosphere that we  managed to create during these months. And I think that everyone -  both in Armenia and in Russia - is happy with this development. And  they still hope that these relations will develop more effectively,  on the basis of respect for the two peoples, the two states and on  the basis of respect for the interests of our countries and respect  for the sovereignty of our countries. It is very important. And for  me it is very important that we have the opportunity, and I am sure  that in the future we will also have the opportunity to meet  frequently and discuss the entire agenda of our relations. We all  know that the agenda of our relations is very rich, and there are a  lot of economic, political and regional issues. We hope for a  positive and constructive dialogue. And we were assured that our  dialogue was just like that. I am very happy about this and I think  that both the Armenian people and the Russian people are happy about  this.