ST. PETERSBURG, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who arrived in Russia on a working visit, touched upon the Armenian-Russian economic cooperation, and in particular, Armenia’s interests in relations with Russia in the energy and gas fields during the meeting with dozens of Armenian businessmen in St. Petersburg.

“There was no geopolitical agenda and context in our revolution. No foreign force has been involved in the revolution process. I have said this during the contacts and I am proud of it: this is also a matter of personal dignity for me. We would feel humiliated if it turned out that someone came and did a revolution in our country. We have announced the principles in our relations with Russia and plan to increase the quality of these relations. I am confident that we are on this path. We are guided by Armenia’s national interests and have stated that our membership to the EAEU and the Armenian-Russian strategic partnership are very important, and we will do everything to develop this direction. We did nothing against Russia and hope the Russian Federation as well did nothing against us. Yes, Russia is a superpower, but the principle of equality of relations is very important. During the first contacts with our Russian partners it was stated that Russia shows unique respect to Armenia’s sovereignty. There is no obstacle in the development of relations”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

The Armenian PM also talked about the relations of the two countries in gas and energy sectors.

“When we are talking to the Russian partners, they are very surprised on the information I provide. When they say that Russia sells the cheapest gas to Armenia, 150 AMD on the border, I tell that the Armenian citizen doesn’t agree with this since gas enters the people’s houses with 300 USD. They are surprised by hearing this, but I say that this is true. The official turnover of gas stations in Armenia recorded a double increase compared to the same period of the previous year. It seems they felt that they are being followed. We need to deal with these issues and will do so. The same applies to energy. During the meetings with our international partners of energy field we record a fact that Armenia’s interests are ignored. It turns out that any energy company wants to construct an object at the expense of Armenia’s people, says the produced energy should cost two drams, but in reality it should cost 1 drams, then says Armenia should buy that energy for 20 years. It turns out that there have been people in Armenia who signed that document and reached an agreement. Obviously, Armenia’s interests in these matters are ignored. We have loan programs which are not being implemented not due to Armenia, but Armenia pays for their service, and it turns out that there have been people in Armenia who signed these contracts. Here they were mainly interested in the interest of their pocket. Energy is a vital field, and we are going to regulate it. We tell the international partners that we need to negotiate: we will just stop the processes where Armenia’s interest is not maintained, we will not allow anyone to ignore Armenia’s interest”, PM Pashinyan said, adding that a coordinated work is being carried out with the Russian partners over energy.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan