News - Russia President will clarify all matters during talks with Armenia’s Pashinyan Wednesday, Putin aide says

Russian President Vladimir Putin will clarify all accumulated issues during the negotiations with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Wednesday. This was stated by Yuri Ushakov, the Russian presidential aide on foreign policy, Interfax reports. According to him, after the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, a bilateral meeting will be held with Armenian PM Pashinyan. "The bilateral communication is expected to be very substantive, as many issues have accumulated for discussion. Problematic issues have accumulated in the relations between Russia and Armenia, which we expect to be openly discussed between the [two] leaders," Ushakov told reporters. In particular, he recalled that "Pashinyan himself had said in April that relations with Moscow are going through difficult times." Also, Ushakov drew attention to the recent reduction of contacts between Armenia and Russia at various levels. In particular, he noted, the last time Putin and Pashinyan communicated personally was at the EAEU summit held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in December 2023. "There is criticism of both Russia and the CSTO. Armenia has de facto frozen its participation [in the CSTO], although it still does not completely refuse to participate in the work of the CSTO, but it does not participate in [its] military exercises and is going to refrain from funding the CSTO. At the same time, Armenia is demonstrably developing a dialogue with the West. In particular, various options for becoming a member in the European Union are being considered, ties through NATO are being intensified, etc. Now there are many issues that require the [Armenian and Russian] leaders to discuss. I would like to emphasize once again that we [i.e. Russia] attach great importance to this bilateral meeting, which, I think, will help many people," added the Russian presidential aide on foreign policy.