Moscow - Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to hold negotiations with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan on Tuesday, the Kremlin press service has reported.
The trip to Russia will be Sargsyan’s first foreign visit following his reelection as president of Armenia on February 18.
“The talks will address ways to further promote Russian-Armenian relations, regional problems and the prospects for deepening cooperation within the CIS and as part of Eurasian integration processes,” it said.
Armenia has traditionally been a central partner for Russia, with both countries being engaged in vigorous political dialogue.
Key bilateral topics were discussed in great detail during the Armenian president’s visit to Moscow on August 8, 2012, as well as at meetings on the sidelines of a CIS summit in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on December 5 and a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Moscow on December 19.
Contacts between the Russian and Armenian governments, ministries and agencies have been developing rapidly as well. The Russian and Armenian prime ministers – Dmitry Medvedev and Tigran Sarkisian – met in Yalta, Ukraine, on September 28. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and Audit Chamber Chairman Sergei Stepashin visited Yerevan last year.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Armed Forces General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov have visited Armenia in 2013.
The visits to Yerevan by Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russia’s parliament, and Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the State Duma, the lower chamber, played an important role in establishing ties with Armenia’s new parliament, which was elected on May 6, 2012.
