ArmInfo. Armenia hopes to receive gas from Russia on lower price, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated at the interview to Russia Today. Answering to the question whether the gas issue makes one of the problems in relations with Russia as its price is high for the Armenian consumer the Prime Minister particularly said:
''Yes it is, but during our discussions we came to a conclusion that this is internal problem of Armenia as it receives from Russia cheap gas on the border. But the price grows twice when it reaches the consumer. We need to discuss and solve this problem inside the country. This issue has no connection to our relations with Russia''. Answering to question whether this means that the gas price will not be revised Pashinyan said that of course Armenia hopes to receive cheaper gas. ''We realize that the price is exclusive for Armenia but we would like to have more exclusive price. We will continue to discuss these issues and I hope we will reach success'', he summarized.
To recall, on November 30 last year, the Armenian government approved for signing a protocol on amending the agreement with Russia on the formation of prices for the supply of natural gas. According to the document, Russian "Gazprom" delivers gas to Armenia at a price of $ 150 for 1 thousand cubic meters from January 1 to December 31, 2018, but this did not affect final consumers. Since January 1, 2017, the following tariffs were established in the country: for subscribers consuming less than 10 thousand cubic meters per month -139,000 drams ($ 300) per 1,000 cubic meters, and for socially unsecured families using less than 600 cubic meters annually-100 thousand drams ($ 240) per 1 thousand cubic meters.