Nothing new was said during the open part of the meeting with the Russian president; in my understanding, neither I nor the Russian president said anything new. The working atmosphere was positive, we agreed that I will visit Moscow in the near future and we will discuss the issues. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during the press briefing after Thursday’s Cabinet session of the Armenian government—and referring to his meeting with Russian President Putin, which took place Tuesday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, and the statements that followed.

“We also reached certain working agreements; in particular, the idea arose that we should make an inventory of the concept of ‘Armenia-Russia relations’ in order to visualize what it means in practice. That is, what lines are there under that subtitle and which lines are there regarding which we both have the same position and which lines are there regarding which we have different positions and where is it that we have an unequivocal positive opinion and where is it that our opinions are not unequivocal?” Pashinyan added.

Regarding the matter of Armenia’s nuclear power plant, Pashinyan said: “Regarding the nuclear power plant, we had already reached an agreement that in September we are waiting for the head of [Russian state corporation] Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, to present the proposals that Russia can make today regarding the construction of the new nuclear power plant of Armenia. I have said before as well that this matter is not a geopolitical choice for us [i.e. Armenia], we need the best price-quality ratio, whoever makes us the best offer, we will go after that offer.”

“We also discussed matters in various domains. I have said our positions, including the issue related to the [current Russian concession management of the Armenian] railway [system], and an understanding has been formed that we need to resolve this issue in some way. It is obvious to me that we have recorded the current situation that it cannot continue for long, and we must move towards solutions,” the Armenian premier added.