Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was also in Moscow on Wednesday night for a regional summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, but did not appear at the Victory Day parade, which has become one of Russia’s most important public holidays under Putin.
The Kremlin announced that V. Putin held talks with the Prime Minister of Armenia on Wednesday.
“As for our bilateral relations, they are being developed quite successfully,” V. Putin told N. Pashinian during the meeting.
“First of all, we always pay attention to economic cooperation,” he said.
The Prime Minister of Armenia himself said earlier this week that he finds it strange to participate in the parade every year. “I took part in the May 9 events in Moscow last year, and I don’t think it’s necessary to take part every year. I don’t remember such a practice that the head of Armenia or any state would participate every year,” he claimed.
Armenia has been trying to turn away from Russia for many months.
Although a traditional ally of Russia, the country has recently been angered that Russian peacekeepers did not intervene when Azerbaijani forces launched an offensive to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh last year.
Some time ago, Armenia joined the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for V. Putin, so theoretically, the head of the Kremlin should be detained if he comes to Armenia.
Armenia will not allocate money to finance the activities of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Moscow-led security alliance of several former Soviet republics, the media reported on Thursday, citing a statement by the country’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalyan.
