YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of his working visit in St. Petersburg, the Presidential Office said.

“I am very glad for the meeting and for getting acquainted with you. 

I hope you have not regretted for coming to participate in the St. Petersburg Economic Forum.

We are holding this event for already 25 years, in any case it has become a guideline for our country, Russia. I hope for our partners as well.

Armenia is not only our partner, it is also our strategic ally, we appreciate it. We understand what is happening in and around Armenia today. We are determined to develop our partnering relations. We are interested in the situation of the country to be stable and guarantee development.

I hope our meeting today will also contribute to it. 

Therefore, I am very happy to see you. Welcome”, the Russian President said in his remarks. 

In his turn, the Armenian President stated: “I have been in St. Petersburg long ago. I was visiting here in Soviet years, it was from the 1980s to 1992. This is an occasion to see how the city has changed and as a former Mayor of Yerevan I can state that the city really looks very good, is so clean and beautiful.

As for the St. Petersburg Forum, I am participating for the first time, but as an economist I have always followed and highly valued it because many interesting and important discussions are being held in terms of economics. Thank you for the invitation. 

The Armenian people appreciate your efforts aimed at the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. I can state that your efforts made for stopping the war are appreciated not only by myself personally, but also I know that they are appreciated by the people of Armenia. The end of war was very important. The observation of agreements reached is also very important for us.

I consider it unnecessary to mention our historical friendship because when the relations are brotherly there is no need to say that you are a good brother or a bad brother. The brotherly relations are such, the essence and philosophy are such, it is everything, it is trust, honesty, joint programs and actions which should continue being implemented. This is my position as a citizen, as an individual and as a President, this approach, of course, helps me.

I am sure that our relations will continue in the future as well and we should support it”.

The meeting also touched upon a broad range of issues on the Armenian-Russian agenda.