Putin and Pashinyan to hold "very important negotiations" on May 8

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will hold a bilateral meeting in Moscow on May 8. There, the Heads of state will discuss a lot of difficult issues that have appeared recently. The negotiations between the leaders were announced by Putin's aide Yuriy Ushakov.

He clarified that Putin and Pashinyan would meet the day after the inauguration scheduled for May 7. On this day, May 8, the anniversary summit of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (SEEC) will be held, which will be headed by Pashinyan as the leader of Armenia, which chairs the organization. After the SEEC meeting, a bilateral meeting between Putin and Pashinyan will take place. In addition to this, on this day there will be a friendly lunch with the participation of the CIS Heads of state

"This bilateral contact will be very informative, there are many issues for discussion... Recently, there have been a number of problematic issues in relations between Russia and Armenia, which we expect to be openly discussed between the leaders",

Ushakov said.

Aide to the Russian president recalled that last month Pashinyan himself described relations with Russia as going through "not the best of times". Ushakov noted the obvious reduction in Russian-Armenian contacts, at several levels, as well as Yerevan's regular criticisms towards the Russian Federation and the CSTO.

In addition to this, the presidential aide added, the Armenian side has actually frozen participation in the CSTO: while formally remaining a member of the organization, Yerevan ignores the exercises within its framework and intends to stop funding it.

"In parallel, Armenia is demonstratively developing a dialogue with the West, including considering various options for joining the EU, and the ties with NATO are intensifying. That is, there are a lot of issues that require discussion between the leaders",

Ushakov said.

Aide to the Russian leader also recalled that the last meeting between Putin and Pashinyan took place in St. Petersburg, also at the SEEC summit, at the end of December. After that, there was practically no communication. That is why, Ushakov believes, Moscow considers the upcoming meeting very important: it can help Moscow and Yerevan make things clear.

Let us remind you that earlier the speaker of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan said that Pashinyan would not attend the inauguration of Vladimir Putin.