Armenia’s new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power last week after a peaceful revolution, told President Vladimir Putin on May 14 he favored closer political and military ties with Russia.
The meeting, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, was the first time the two men had met and followed Pashinyan’s election last week after weeks of street protests.
Some Western media had questioned whether Pashinyan, a former journalist who won power by channeling public discontent over perceived political cronyism, would keep his country, a landlocked ex-Soviet state, closely aligned with Russia, which has a military base in Armenia and a long history of selling it weapons.
