Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the Kremlin, who is a guest of the International Forum on Nuclear and Related Industries in Moscow. The two discussed the work of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, as well as various aspects of bilateral relations.
„Thank you for accepting our invitation and coming to this international event dedicated to the development of the nuclear industry. This is natural, since Armenia has had an operating nuclear power plant for a long time. As you yourself stated at the forum, it provides 30% of the country's electricity. This is a significant figure – 30%, a third of all electricity is generated by the nuclear power plant“, the Russian leader greeted his interlocutor.
Putin recalled that “Rosatom“ “is currently working to extend the life of this nuclear power plant“. “Therefore, your presence at the forum is, of course, completely logical“, he noted.
In general, Putin assessed that relations between Russia and Armenia “are developing stably and well“.
“The trade turnover is nearly $11 billion, which is 34% of the republic's foreign trade. "Armenia's trade turnover with Russia, according to our statistics, worth $11.7 billion, is a record high, since 2024. Relations are also developing in all other areas," Putin added, noting that there is always something to discuss with Armenian partners.
For his part, Pashinyan thanked the participants for the invitation to participate in the forum. "Today we learned a lot about nuclear technologies. Thank you for sharing. Of course, the role of nuclear energy is constantly growing, and nuclear energy is already considered a green energy source worldwide," Pashinyan noted. He emphasized the importance of nuclear energy for Armenia. "You rightly noted that we are closely cooperating with the Russian Federation and working to extend the life of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant until 2036. We are currently working and looking for projects for small modular nuclear power plants suitable for Armenia, and, of course, we are also very actively engaged in a dialogue with the Russian Federation on this issue," the Armenian Prime Minister said, emphasizing that cooperation with "Rosatom" is ongoing.
Speaking about the bilateral agenda, Pashinyan noted that "relations are developing steadily." "It is true that this year there is a slight decline and this is due to certain global processes, but I think we need to work on this issue in an appropriate way so that our mutual trade can continue to grow at the pace that we plan for 2023-2024," he concluded.
The last time Putin and Pashinyan met in person was on August 31 in Tianjin, China, after a reception in honor of the heads of delegations from the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Today, Russian and Belarusian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko are expected to meet in Moscow.
As Natalia Eismont, the press secretary of the Belarusian leader, told TASS, the agenda includes "the entire spectrum of regional and bilateral relations." Lukashenko also mentioned the transmission of certain messages from the American side to Putin.
Putin and Lukashenko last met on September 2 in Beijing.