Interfax - Russia & CIS Diplomatic Panorama
 Wednesday 6:43 PM MSK


Lavrov discusses allied interaction with new Armenian foreign minister

MOSCOW. May 23

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Armenian Foreign Minister
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan discussed preparations for the meeting of the CIS
Council of Heads of Government in Dushanbe on June 1 and the meeting
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Council of
Foreign Ministers in Almaty on June 11, the Russian Foreign Ministry
said on Wednesday.

Lavrov and Mnatsakanyan also discussed activities of the Eurasian
Economic Union (EAEU) institutions, the schedule of bilateral events,
and planned contacts on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process on the
level of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the ministry said.

They also discussed allied interaction following Russian President
Vladimir Putin's conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinyan in Sochi on May 14, it said.

Lavrov "once again, now in his personal capacity, congratulated his
Armenian counterpart on his appointment to this high-ranking
government position."

The conversation was held at Armenia's initiative.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry's press service said Mnatsakanyan and
Lavrov reaffirmed their interest in continuing to expand and deepen
relations.

Mnatsakanyan also accepted Lavrov's invitation to visit Moscow. "For a
more detailed discussion of the Armenian-Russian agenda and promotion
of bilateral relations, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan accepted Sergei Lavrov's
invitation to visit Moscow in the near future," the press service
said.

Mnatsakanyan praised Russia's, France's, and the United States'
mediating efforts in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"The Armenian foreign minister reaffirmed Yerevan's commitment to an
exclusively peaceful resolution of the problem within the framework of
the OSCE Minsk Group. In his words, for the process to be successful,
a peace-oriented atmosphere is needed," the press service said.