Public Television of Armenia
June 5 2009

Armenian, Russian presidents discuss ties, Karabakh

[Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan and [Russian] President Dmitriy
Medvedev met yesterday evening in the Konstantinovskiy Palace of the
Russian president. The meeting was held in a warm and constructive
atmosphere. The sides discussed issues of mutual interest. The Russian
president attached importance both to bilateral and regional ties. The
Armenian president introduced results of his meeting with the
Azerbaijani president in Saint Petersburg to his Russian
counterpart. The sides spoke about cooperation in the framework of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization, attaching importance to
efficient activities of the organization’s rapid reaction collective
force in this context.

[Medvedev speaking at the meeting in Russian with Armenian translation
superimposed] Dear Serzh Azatovich, I would like to sincerely welcome
you in Petersburg. I am happy that you came for both communicating and
speaking about issues and developing bilateral ties. I hope that you
will have an opportunity to take part in the forum tomorrow and to
speak about contemporary issues of international policy, international
economic life. It is necessary to meet more frequently in order to
overcome difficulties, and we are doing so. We have met many times
recently and I believe that this is necessary for the development of
Armenian-Russian cooperation and personal ties. It helps making
targeted decisions regarding specific issues.

[Sargsyan speaking in Russian with Armenian voiceover] Thanks you dear
Dmitriy Anatolyevich. First of all, I would like to express my
gratitude for the invitation to take part in the Petersburg economic
forum. I would like to express my gratitude for providing the
500m-dollar loan to Armenia. This will help overcome the negative
consequences of the crisis. We have worked and are working in the
direction of the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh issue with the
help of the co-chairs of the [OSCE] Minsk Group. We are trying to find
ways to allow residents of Nagornyy Karabakh to live securely in their
homeland allowing them to decide their fate themselves. A regular
session of the Collective Treaty Security Organization will be held in
Moscow. We should take more steps to unite efforts, in particular, in
the cause of establishment of the rapid reaction force.