Experts: presidents of Armenia and Russia always have something to discuss

Tomorrow, on March 12, the recently re-elected president of Armenia,
Serzh Sargsyan, will arrive in Moscow. The trip to Russia will be Sargsyan's
first travel abroad in his second term. The inauguration
is scheduled for April 9. In Moscow, Sargsyan will hold talks with
Russian president Vladimir Putin. It is expected that during the
meeting the two leaders will discuss the status of
Russian-Armenian relations, including issues of cooperation in the 
economic, political and cultural spheres. Experts also believe that
the participants in the meeting will discuss the Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the context of the opening of an airport
in the town of Khojaly in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Vestnik Kavkaza has interviewed Russian experts about their vision of
the upcoming visit of Serzh Sargsyan.

A researcher at the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the
Black Sea-Caspian region, Andrey Areshev, said that the presidents of
the two countries always have topics for discussion.

The expert expressed doubt that the topic of the possible re-opening of
the airport in Nagorno-Karabakh will be directly addressed in
bilateral talks. "Russia's opinion, of course, plays a very important
and significant role. But certainly, apart from Russia, there are other
factors influencing the developments in the region of the South Caucasus,"
the expert said.

The director general of the Political Studies Center "North-South,"
Alexei Vlasov, believes that many Armenian experts expect serious
results from the visit of Serzh Sargsyan to Moscow in terms of the economy
and the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict.

Vlasov said that it is clear that Armenia will ask for a discount on
gas. At the same time, Russia most probably will talk about the format
of cooperation between Yerevan and the Eurasian integration project.

Alexei Vlasov noted that some Armenian media believe that Vladimir
Putin will give his opinion regarding the re-opening of Khojaly
airport in Nagorno-Karabakh. The expert said that in his opinion Putin
is not going to give a clear and definite stance on the opening of the
airport due to the complexity of the problem.