Post #28238

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’sopening remarks at a meeting with President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan(Moscow, February 5, 2026) 💬 We know you had a fulfilling visit to the Russian Federation. The last time we met was in 2021. We operate on the premise that our contacts at the top political and parliamentary level have been quite steady and substantial over the past year. We are interested in keeping it this way. Armenia is our ally and strategic partner. The situation in the South Caucasus is quite challenging, and we are aware of it. Certain progress has been made and things have been agreed upon by Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan, and the Prime Minister of Armenia in 2020-2022. We believe all of that remains relevant, especially if we want to overcome all economic, transport, and logistical issues in the South Caucasus. Armenia should benefit significantly from these decisions; all obstacles to the normal functioning of the entire region as a single whole should be removed. We are ready to make it happen. Our respective deputy prime ministers maintain regular contacts based on the decisions stemming from the Leaders’ agreements in the trilateral working group. We know the Armenian leadership expressed interest in maintaining the current level of ties and cooperation with the Russian Federation. We also know that not all countries located outside of that region are comfortable with that. Our EU colleagues are quite actively working to oppose this. We have never objected to any of our partners developing external ties in any area. As for our EU colleagues, they never stop confronting the country in question with a choice: you are either with us or with them. This is the logic they have stuck to for over 20 years now in the post-Soviet space. The EU and European NATO members have openly declared war on Russia with the aim of inflicting a “strategic defeat” on us. We would like narratives that sow distrust, or even hostility, not to dominate or prevail in the public space of our two countries. It is somewhat puzzling for us to hear someone say now and then that some imaginary attacks are being prepared by someone “from the north” against Armenia, or about an existential threat allegedly posed by the CSTO. While we are at it, I would also like to note attempts to call into question our shared history of the Soviet period, including the Great Patriotic War, as well as the post-Soviet period. We will always honour and cherish the memory of the Armenian people’s contribution to victory over Nazism. Everyone is aware of the feats of outstanding military commanders who hailed from the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. <...> We have repeatedly stated that Armenia is pursuing its own sovereign choice. We are equally interested in Armenia being sovereign, strong, and self-sufficient country and be able to choose its own foreign policy in discussions about what is more important and more beneficial for Armenia. Is it continuing integration processes within the EAEU, or transitioning to the EU rules and standards. These discussions are under way. We are observing them, but you know where we stand on this. We are not driven by ideology, but are firmly rooted in reality. The EAEU membership is incompatible with the principles that underlie participation, cooperation and, all the more so, accession to the EU. This is your choice. We will respect it in full. I trust that account will be taken of the results achieved over the past 10 years since Armenia became a full member of the EAEU. 📈 In 2015, its GDP stood at $10.5 billion; today, it is $26 billion. It is up by 2.5 times. This is a cold hard fact. I will not even comment on it. Moscow remains your main trade and economic partner. We treat this position of ours accordingly. We want to expand this cooperation in every possible way, to advance major infrastructure projects and initiatives taking into account the existing experience reflected in Armenia’s economy. #RussiaArmenia