🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during the expanded-format talks with Deputy Prime Minister – Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu(Astana, November 7, 2024)
💬 As always, I am delighted to find myself among our friends in Kazakhstan and to benefit from the opportunity to continue our proactive dialogue. You have just mentioned the number of times our presidents, you and I, and our allies meet every year.
🇷🇺🇰🇿 Indeed, relations between Russia and Kazakhstan have been gathering momentum. We have been working hard to prepare President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Kazakhstan, scheduled for November 27. We are drafting several dozen documents, just as we discussed during the restricted-format meeting. We will make sure to fast-track this process to make this summit meeting as effective and results-driven as possible.
Russia and Kazakhstan have made great strides in expanding their region-to-region and inter-parliamentary ties. Ufa will be hosting the XX Inter-Regional Cooperation Forum. We hope that our leaders will be able to deliver their greetings via videoconference to the regional delegates from our two countries.
We are also looking forward to expanding our ties within multilateral platforms such as the #CSTO, the #EAEU, the #CIS and the #SCO. Kazakhstan has been invited to join BRICS as a partner country. It is our hope that this will add a new dimension to our contacts regarding present-day global challenges, especially as we are witnessing and living in a time of change.
📈Trade and economic cooperation has also enjoyed positive momentum. There are flagship strategic projects underway, including the effort to upgrade the Central Asia – Centre natural gas pipeline, and many other energy projects. This includes agreements on gas supplies to Uzbekistan, as well as delivering gas to connect Kazakhstan’s northeastern regions to gas distribution networks, which could potentially pave the way for launching gas deliveries to China. All these efforts are aimed at creating resilient infrastructure in a sector which serves as a key economic development driver.
Cultural, humanitarian and educational ties, projects to open joint schools in Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as efforts by universities to open more branches, and the opening of Russia’s consulate in Aktau – all these undertakings will promote closer people-to-people ties, bringing those who are interested in these contacts closer together.
🤝 I am certain the Plan of Consultations and Cooperation for 2025 and 2026 that we will be signing today will make our contribution to these processes even more effective.
#RussiaKazakhstan
🇷🇺🇦🇲 On April 1, President Vladimir Putin held talks at the Kremlin with Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who arrived in Moscow on a working visit.
💬 President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Pashinyan, friends,
We are delighted to welcome you in Moscow. Thank you very much for accepting our invitation and coming here.
We can see that domestic political processes in Armenia are gaining momentum, with elections approaching. In this context, I would like to emphasise several key points: such processes often become more intense during election campaigns, as is the case not only in Armenia, I believe, but also in Russia and other countries. However, this escalation must not be allowed to affect relations between Russia and Armenia.
We have discussed this many times. Russia and Armenia have special relationships which have evolved over centuries rather than decades. We are united by our common history as well as our cooperation to solve the challenges that we faced in years past. Crucially, we are also united by civilizational affinity. I have already told you this privately before, and I can say it publicly now: we are always in favour of anything that benefits the Armenian people, and you can always rely on it.
As for economic cooperation, it continues to develop at a solid pace. Trade reached approximately $11 billion the year before last, and amounted to $6.4 billion in 2025. <...>
We observe that there is an ongoing discussion in Armenia concerning the development of relations with the European Union. We remain entirely calm about this, understanding that each nation endeavours to maximise the advantages of cooperation with third countries. However, this must be transparent and articulated honestly, in advance, as it were, “on the shore,” beforehand.
Simultaneous membership in the Customs Union with the European Union and the #EAEU is impossible; it is simply untenable by definition. The issue is not even a political one; it is purely economic. <...>
There are also numerous other issues today, at this present moment. Perhaps years will pass, and we – the EAEU and the European Union – I hope this will eventually be the case, given that we reside on the same continent – will be able to resolve them. <...>
Now, regarding energy. I hope the situation will improve there as well. However, currently, as you are aware, energy prices, gas prices, for instance, in Europe exceed 600 dollars per 1,000 cubic metres, whereas Russia provides gas to Armenia at 177.5 per 1,000 cubic metres. The disparity is vast, the difference is substantial. <...>
Now, turning to security issues. Of course, the most sensitive issue to this day – and we recognise this, we discuss it often – is everything relating to #Karabakh. <...> But I think it is also clear that, after you recognised Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in Prague in 2022, it simply became wholly inappropriate for the #CSTO to become involved in a process that had taken on an intra-Azerbaijani dimension. <...>
Incidentally, thanks to your efforts and those of the President of Azerbaijan, I believe you have now managed to stabilise relations. The US President has played an active role in this, and I understand transport links are being unfrozen, and so on. But I think we also need to draw a line under this matter. And it would be better if this did not become entangled in the domestic political process, especially during an election campaign.
<...>
Let me say again that, whatever happens, we in Russia will always be guided by what is best for the Armenian people. I have said this to you before, and I want to emphasise it once again.
🤝 And I would like to express my hope that, regardless of the outcome of the elections in Armenia, our shared commitment to building and strengthening #RussiaArmenia ties will continue.
Thank you.
Armenian PM Pashinyan Clashes with Passenger over Karabakh in Yerevan Metro
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan argued with a Karabakh resident in Yerevan metro, accused of surrendering the region to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan defended government efforts to preserve Karabakh’s population, citing significant budget allocations. He urged not to blame him for betrayal: “Why didn’t you stay? Don’t say I surrendered Karabakh.” This incident highlights ongoing tensions over the disputed region’s future.
#Armenia#Karabakh#Pashinyan#InternationalNews
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🇷🇺🇦🇲 On April 1, President Vladimir Putin held talks at the Kremlin with Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who arrived in Moscow on a working visit.
💬 President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Pashinyan, friends,
We are delighted to welcome you in Moscow. Thank you very much for accepting our invitation and coming here.
We can see that domestic political processes in Armenia are gaining momentum, with elections approaching. In this context, I would like to emphasise several key points: such processes often become more intense during election campaigns, as is the case not only in Armenia, I believe, but also in Russia and other countries. However, this escalation must not be allowed to affect relations between Russia and Armenia.
We have discussed this many times. Russia and Armenia have special relationships which have evolved over centuries rather than decades. We are united by our common history as well as our cooperation to solve the challenges that we faced in years past. Crucially, we are also united by civilizational affinity. I have already told you this privately before, and I can say it publicly now: we are always in favour of anything that benefits the Armenian people, and you can always rely on it.
As for economic cooperation, it continues to develop at a solid pace. Trade reached approximately $11 billion the year before last, and amounted to $6.4 billion in 2025. <...>
We observe that there is an ongoing discussion in Armenia concerning the development of relations with the European Union. We remain entirely calm about this, understanding that each nation endeavours to maximise the advantages of cooperation with third countries. However, this must be transparent and articulated honestly, in advance, as it were, “on the shore,” beforehand.
Simultaneous membership in the Customs Union with the European Union and the #EAEU is impossible; it is simply untenable by definition. The issue is not even a political one; it is purely economic. <...>
There are also numerous other issues today, at this present moment. Perhaps years will pass, and we – the EAEU and the European Union – I hope this will eventually be the case, given that we reside on the same continent – will be able to resolve them. <...>
Now, regarding energy. I hope the situation will improve there as well. However, currently, as you are aware, energy prices, gas prices, for instance, in Europe exceed 600 dollars per 1,000 cubic metres, whereas Russia provides gas to Armenia at 177.5 per 1,000 cubic metres. The disparity is vast, the difference is substantial. <...>
Now, turning to security issues. Of course, the most sensitive issue to this day – and we recognise this, we discuss it often – is everything relating to #Karabakh. <...> But I think it is also clear that, after you recognised Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in Prague in 2022, it simply became wholly inappropriate for the #CSTO to become involved in a process that had taken on an intra-Azerbaijani dimension. <...>
Incidentally, thanks to your efforts and those of the President of Azerbaijan, I believe you have now managed to stabilise relations. The US President has played an active role in this, and I understand transport links are being unfrozen, and so on. But I think we also need to draw a line under this matter. And it would be better if this did not become entangled in the domestic political process, especially during an election campaign.
<...>
Let me say again that, whatever happens, we in Russia will always be guided by what is best for the Armenian people. I have said this to you before, and I want to emphasise it once again.
🤝 And I would like to express my hope that, regardless of the outcome of the elections in Armenia, our shared commitment to building and strengthening #RussiaArmenia ties will continue.
Thank you.
⚡️Советую евродепутатам, голосовавшим за предвзятую резолюцию против #Азербайджан’а, посмотреть мой фильм про разрушенную церковь в Ходжавенде. Сразу становится ясно, как #Армения за годы оккупации разрушила не только мусульманское, но и христианское наследие в #Карабах’е👇
https://youtu.be/cyacJfkSEiA
💡 I advise the MEPs who voted for the biased resolution against #Azerbaijan to watch my film about the destroyed church in Khojavend. It immediately becomes clear how during the years of occupation #Armenia destroyed not only the Muslim, but also the Christian heritage in #Karabakh👇
https://youtu.be/cyacJfkSEiA
🇦🇿#Aghdam before and after the #armenian occupation!
Imaret complex of the #Karabakh khans in #Azerbaijan’s Aghdam district had been vandalized by the Armenians
«What’s happened in #Karabakh is a part of global justice» - world famous photographer Reza Deghati
#KarabakhisAzerbaijan#Shusha#RezaDeghati#Azerbaijan#Armenia