Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin Thursday.

Putin stated as follows:

“Dear Nikol Vovayevich, dear friends, good evening, I am very glad to see you. Thank you for accepting our invitation and coming to the international event dedicated to the development of the nuclear sector. A nuclear power plant has been operating in Armenia for a long time.

As you personally said during the [World Atomic Week] forum [in Moscow], it provides 30 percent of the country’s electricity. In any case, this is a serious indicator. Rosatom [State Atomiс Energy Corporation of Russia] is currently working on extending the life of this nuclear power plant, which is why your presence at the forum is completely logical. In general, our relations [i.e. between Russia and Armenia] are developing, developing well; we have a trade of almost $11 billion.

According to our statistical data, in 2024 we [i.e. Russia] had a trade of $11.7 billion with Armenia; this is a record figure. Relations are developing also in all other directions. We always have topics to talk about, although we met recently, in any case, we are very glad to see you in Moscow. Welcome once again.”

Pashinyan responded as follows:

“Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, thank you for inviting us to the World Atomic Week international forum. Today we learned a lot of news about nuclear technologies, thank you for sharing them.

Of course, the role of nuclear energy is constantly growing, and nuclear energy is already considered ecological energy in the global sense. Nuclear energy is also very important for our country. You rightly noted that we [i.e. Armenia] are closely collaborating with the Russian Federation and are working to extend the operation period of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant until 2036.

We are currently working and looking for suitable projects for Armenia—small modular nuclear capabilities. And of course, we have a very active dialogue with the Russian Federation on this matter also. We are collaborating very effectively with the Rosatom corporation.

In general, our relations [between Armenia and Russia] are developing as planned. You emphasized the mutual trade. It is true that this year a certain decline is observed; it is connected with some global processes, but I believe there is an opportunity to work in this direction so that our mutual trade will continue to grow at the pace recorded in 2023-2024. Of course, the agenda of our relations is very rich, and we really have many matters to discuss. Thank you."