Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will visit Russia on July 7. He is listed among the invited speakers at the Innoprom international industrial exhibition, which is taking place in Yekaterinburg.
According to media reports, the Armenian leader will participate in the forum's main session alongside Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The two prime ministers held a telephone conversation on July 1. This marked the first publicly known contact between Pashinyan and the Russian leadership following Armenia's parliamentary elections in June. Reports indicated that the Armenian side initiated the call.
In nearly identical statements released by Armenia and Russia, it was noted that the parties discussed "current issues regarding Russian-Armenian cooperation in the trade-economic, scientific-technological, and cultural-humanitarian spheres."
It is worth noting that, contrary to established practice, the Russian leadership did not congratulate Nikol Pashinyan on his party's victory in the June parliamentary elections. Although Moscow made no official statement refusing to recognize the election results, a number of high-ranking Russian officials expressed critical views on the outcome. For instance, Sergey Naryshkin, Director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), stated that the elections were difficult and that the results were "questionable in a certain sense."
Prior to the vote, Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed interest in the participation of political forces advocating for the development of allied relations with Russia. A few days before the election, the Russian ambassador to Armenia was recalled to Moscow for consultations before subsequently returning to Yerevan.
Amidst ongoing tensions between the two countries, Russia also imposed a series of restrictions on the import of certain Armenian goods. In Yerevan and European political circles, these measures were viewed as an attempt to exert economic pressure on the Armenian authorities. At the same time, the EU is opening the European market to specific categories of Armenian goods, thereby facilitating the diversification of Yerevan’s foreign economic ties.
