Working visit of President Serzh Sargsyan to Russian Federation

 Today, at the Constantinovski Palace in Saint Petersburg there took place a meeting of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

Presidents of the two strategic partner states discussed issues pertinent to the negotiation on the settlement of NK conflict and in that context referred to the regional developments and current challenges which threat security.

The Presidents exchanged views on the implementation of the agreements reached in Vienna at the meeting which was initiated by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

“Distinguished President Sargsyan,
Esteemed Friends,

Allow me to welcome you to Petersburg. A little while ago, we together with President Sargsyan have had a rather substantial conversation on a number of issues. At the beginning of our meeting in the extended format, I would like to say that we are registering an increase in our turnover despite all difficulties present in our and international economies.

Supplies of the Armenian agricultural products to the Russian market have practically increased manyfold, which is very pleasing for us. I hope that in general this tendency will become stronger with regard to both the increase of the turnover and a group of goods which are sensitive for us. It should be noted that within the framework of the integration processes our relations develop even more dynamically than they used to on the bilateral base which is also very pleasing for us. There is an opportunity and need to speak about our future actions. Currently, Armenia is presiding over at the CSTO, and in the fall there will be a high level meeting. We will come back to this issue in October as well. We are very glad to see you. Thank you for accepting the invitation,” said the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

The President of Armenia thanked the President of Russia for the initiative of convening such a meeting at Saint Petersburg where an economic forum concluded just yesterday and which according to President Sargsyan has become an important platform for the discussion of important global economic issues. The President of Armenia expressed confidence that this significant event was closely watched in all countries of the Eurasian Economic Union.

“Mr. President, since this meeting is mostly about Karabakh, I will not touch upon the issue of our bilateral agenda. Ties are becoming stronger on every direction; actually there are no problems here.

Our position regarding Karabakh is well known: We want the issue to be solved through the exclusively peaceful means. I would like to thank you, other leaders of the Co-Chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group for the attention and efforts which are being made for the resolution of this issue. Regrettably, conflicts like this one cannot be solved through the desire of one party only, and we will certainly be very glad if we are able to move forward towards the implementation of the agreements reached in Vienna, and I mean the creation of the mechanisms for the monitoring of the ceasefire regime violations. It will create a work mood for negotiations.Thank you,” said the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

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A trilateral meeting of the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan took place in Saint Petersburg after which Presidents Serzh Sargsyan, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliev made a joint statement which reads:

“At the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation, the Presidents of the Republic of Armenia, Russian Federation and Republic of Azerbaijan met in Saint Petersburg on June 20, 2016 and discussed issues pertaining to the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem.

The Presidents of the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Azerbaijan reiterated agreements reached at the May 16 Armenian-Azerbaijani Summit in Vienna aimed at the stabilization of the situation in the conflict area and creation of an atmosphere conducive for moving the peace process forward. Towards that end, they agreed in particular to increase the number of international observers. They expressed satisfaction with the fact that recently the ceasefire regime at the line of contact has been upheld. There took place a substantial exchanged of opinions regarding the pivotal issues related to the settlement. The Heads of State took note of mutual understanding on a number of issues the resolution of which will allow to create condition for progress in the settlement of the NK issue. The Presidents mentioned the importance of their regular meetings and reached an agreement to continue them in the same format in addition to the activities carried out by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group were invited to take part in the final part of the meeting in Saint Petersburg.”

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On June 20, in Saint Petersburg President Serzh Sargsyan met with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov (Russia), James Warlick (USA), Pierre Andrieu (France) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk. The President of Armenia conveyed his impressions of the meetings held in Saint Petersburg.