Russia is ready for a constructive dialogue with the Armenian government, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said during a briefing on Thursday.

“We are ready for a constructive dialogue with the new Armenian parliament and the government that will soon be formed with the aim of further strengthening of cooperation between our countries, including within the Eurasian Union, CSTO and CIS,” she said.

The negotiations with Russia over the natural gas tariffs still continue, but an arrangement has not been made yet, Armenia’s acting Energy Minister Garegin Baghramyan said.

He assured that there was no problem in connection with the fact that the respective contract expires on December 31, since it will automatically be extended until the said negotiations are over.

Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the matter in Saint Petersburg, but he did not provide any details from this conversation.

The Armenian police officers brought a three-month baby girl to Armenia after mother abandoned her after giving birth.

Three-month-old Ani was taken to an orphanage in Novosibirsk, a city in Russia's Siberia, after her mother signed a decision to abandon her at maternity hospital. The baby girl is a citizen of Armenia. 

Armenia will be represented at the meeting of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

Head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation department Ashot Kocharyan will head to Baku for a meeting on Friday.

The capital city Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction on Thursday made a decision on extending for two more months the remanding in custody of former ranking security official Vachagan Ghazaryan.

Ghazaryan who is charged with withholding the information on the true amount of his funds had been remanded in custody once before, but was released on a 1bn-dram (approx. $2,100,000) bail.