TO MOSCOW, UNDER DIFFERENT NAME
Vladimir Kuzmin
WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
June 27, 2008 Friday
Russia
PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA AND ARMENIA DISCUSSED REGIONAL PROBLEMS
President of Armenia, Serj Sargsjan, made his first visit to Moscow
after election and inauguration and met with President of Russia,
Dmitry Medvedev.
"Russian-Armenian cooperation, close in the first place, is becoming
even closer," Medvedev said when the talks were over. He referred to
the growing trade turnover that was already approaching $1 billion.
Russia is the principal investor in the Armenian economy. The sum
total of investments has already exceeded $1.2 billion.
The agendas of the Russian-Armenian talks always include international
issues. Granted that all problems on the agenda concern the
Commonwealth alone, but even they are numerous. The Nagorno-Karabakh
situation is one of them.
"The priorities of Russia have remained unchanged. We are convinced
that all crises in the Caucasus should be resolved by peaceful
means only, within the framework of the existing formats and in
line with the international law and practice," Medvedev said. The
two presidents discussed ways and means of intensification of the
Azerbaijani-Armenian talks.
Moscow reiterated its readiness to advance cooperation with Yerevan
within the framework of the CIS and CIS Collective Security Treaty
Organization (Armenia is about to assume chairmanship in the latter).
"The president of the Russian Federation and I discussed the whole
range of bilateral issues as well as international and regional
cooperation," Sargsjan said. "We reiterated readiness to advance the
Commonwealth for maximum efficiency of integration within it."
Sargsjan thanked Medvedev for the warm reception and invited him
to Yerevan.