The meeting of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin took place in the Kremlin.

In his speech, Vladimir Putin said:

“Dear friends,

Dear Nikol Vovaevich,

Once again, I warmly welcome you all to Moscow, Russia.

Thank you for actively participating in today’s meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. We have already talked about this, this whole event, in my opinion, passed at the level we had hoped for, we talked to each other very frankly about many points.

We are also grateful that you agreed to the presence of the President of Azerbaijan at this event. I think that in any case, from the point of view of the development of regional economic relations, it is useful, it creates an additional platform and an opportunity for dialogue in those areas that leave no room for doubt.

Bilateral cooperation in various fields continues to develop actively. I would like to mention that our trade turnover is confidently showing a positive trend. Last year, it grew by more than 83 percent and reached 5 billion USD. In January-March of this year, it increased by another 1.5 billion. If this process develops at this rate, then we will definitely beat the previous year’s record as well.

As for the sensitive issues related to the Karabakh settlement, we once again discussed all this face to face with Prime Minister Nikol Vovaevich Pashinyan. We will still have the opportunity to talk in a trilateral format about the issues of unblocking transport links. The issues are very important and sensitive. I am sure that if in the end, despite all the difficulties, we reach the solution of these issues, then it will undoubtedly be beneficial for both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and not only the two countries, but also the entire region, because many states are interested in it, and it will contribute to the normalization of relations in all directions, including political, in terms of ensuring the security of people living in that area.

We are very happy that today we have the opportunity to meet not only face to face, but also in a wider format. I’m sure it will be helpful”.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said,

“I am very grateful, Vladimir Vladimirovich. Thanks again for the warm welcome.

Indeed, the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council was held at a high level. We discussed a wide range of issues.

As for economic dynamics, you are right: everything is at least not bad in the Eurasian Economic Union.

In the regional sense, of course, we have a rather tense situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the Lachin Corridor, we talked about that many times today. Unfortunately, despite the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan has illegally blocked the Lachin Corridor, due to which Nagorno-Karabakh has appeared in a humanitarian crisis. You know that the supply of natural gas and electricity to Nagorno Karabakh has also been stopped, blocked by Azerbaijan, which further aggravates the humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh. The supply of food and goods to Nagorno Karabakh has become complicated. Of course, the Russian peacekeepers support in this issue, but unfortunately, as I said, the blocking of the Lachin corridor took place in the presence of the Russian peacekeepers.

Today we discussed the issues related to the unblocking of regional communications in a working mode. I would like to reaffirm once again that Armenia is really interested in this, we are ready to start unblocking all transport and economic links and communications based on the sovereignty and jurisdiction of our country. I want to confirm this position once again. I would like to confirm that we are ready, both border services and customs services are ready to ensure the normal passage of all means of transport, railways through the territory of Armenia.

We expect that the Azerbaijani railway will also be open for the transportation of goods from the Republic of Armenia through Nakhichevan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, for example, to the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran. We expect this issue to be resolved on a parity basis, as I said, based on the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries.”

Summing up, Vladimir Putin added,

“Dear Nikol Vovaevich,

You know our position regarding our trilateral declaration, regarding the Lachin Corridor. We have never changed our position on this matter. And you know that in our discussions with our Armenian friends and with Azerbaijan, we have always been faithful and we are faithful to this very position now. Everything should be in accordance with the spirit and letter of our trilateral declaration. Our position here has not changed.

Regarding the possible construction of transport routes, communications, both railways and highways, our position on unblocking is also unchanged. And now, during the bilateral contact with the Azerbaijani delegation, we said about this.

But it should be noted that the Azerbaijani side also confirms that Azerbaijan does not have any changes in this matter, they recognize without any exception the full sovereignty of Armenia over this area, and sort of double, triple interpretations of all this, related to the possible unblocking of transport communication, are groundless.

However, there are issues, you just mentioned them, I think they are related to the terminology. I think we can talk about this in more detail.”