High-level Russian-Armenian dialogue continues
High-level Russian-Armenian dialogue continues despite political changes in Armenia, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin has said.
Speaking to Izvestia, Karasin reminded that Russian President Vladimir Putin has had three meetings with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and the Prime Ministers of the two countries have met twice over a few months. The leaders have also talked on phone, he added.
“The main political outcome of these contacts is the confirmation of the unchanged course of further reinforcement of Russian-Armenian allied relations both in bilateral format and within common integration frameworks such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),” Karasin said.
“Despite some domestic political instability in Armenia, systematic joint work on specific areas of cooperation continues. A testament to that is the positive dynamics in commodity turnover, which made $925.6 million in the first half of 2018, marking a 23.4% growth as compared to the same period of 2017,” the Deputy Foreign Minister noted.
No alternative to peaceful settlement through negotiations
Speaking about the perspectives of Karabakh conflict settlement, Karasin said “there is only one perspective – a peaceful settlement through negotiations.”
“The vital interest of the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples in security, stability and development forms the basis and political driving force for the negotiation process, which Russia strongly supports,” he said.
“As an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing country, Russia is working closely with the other members of the trio – France and USA. In compliance with the general line of the co-chairs, in the framework of the decisions taken on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, we also strive to do our part to the best of our ability to assist the parties to the conflict in developing peace agreements,” Karasin added.
“This position of ours remains unchanged. It is fixed in the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation and confirmed during Vladimir Putin’s recent meetings with the leaders of the two countries,” the Deputy FM stated.
