The working meeting of the Minister of Defense of the Russia Sergey Shoygu and his Armenian counterpart Vagharshak Harutyunyan took place Friday in Moscow; they discussed current important matters, RIA Novosti reported.

The Russian defense minister proposed to discuss regional security issues. "We will discuss regional security issues related to the work of the [Russian] peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)] and, of course, all the important issues that have arisen so far," Shoygu said.

"Today we will discuss all our issues of cooperation, which, in my opinion, are developing very successfully," Harutyunyan said, for his part.

Opening the meeting, Shoygu noted that Russia and Armenia are strengthening their military cooperation, both bilaterally and within the framework of international organizations—and first of all, within the CSTO. "The indicator of the high level of bilateral cooperation is the activity of the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia, which we consider an important factor in ensuring regional security," he continued.

Also, the Russian defense minister congratulated Harutyunyan and the whole Armenian people on their state holiday: Republic Day. "And you were able to come to Moscow on this day. This assumes that the relations between our countries continue to be at a high level, and we continue to develop and deepen our strategic partnership," Shoygu added.

The Russian defense minister recalled that high-level Armenian military delegations traditionally attend the important events of the Russian Defense Ministry. "We will be glad to see you at the IX Moscow Conference on International Security, which will be held in June," he said. "[And] in August-September, we await the representatives of the Republic of Armenia to the International Army Games and the ‘Army 2021’ International Military-Technical Conference."