Pashinyan to Mishustin: Our meeting coincided with the recent  escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border

ArmInfo.Our meeting coincided with the recent escalation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Minsk during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.  As the press service of the Prime Minister of Armenia told ArmInfo, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held  private talks with RF Premier Mikhail Mishustin in Minsk.

Prime Minister Pashinyan said in his remarks: "Mikhail Vladimirovich,  I am happy to meet with you, as several of our potential meetings  have been postponed due to the coronavirus. We have a number of  important issues on the agenda of bilateral relations. I think that  the relations of allied partnership between Armenia and Russia  continue to develop as planned. By the way, 2019 was quite a fruitful  year, considering that the bilateral trade turnover exceeded the mark  of two billion dollars for the first time in the history of our  countries: last year we boasted a growth of 14%. The trend continued  in January-February, but unfortunately we lost the pace due to the  coronavirus. I am sure that we will reinstate it shortly.

It turned out that our meeting coincided with the recent escalation  on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I hope you are aware that for  reasons as of yet unknown to us the Azerbaijani side decided to shell  the Armenian border. I will give you information about it and the  current situation. I wish to emphasize that these events came against  the background of the provocation of a third party, and it remains to  see who is interested in what and why. I think today we will discuss  this very important topic."

In turn, the head of the Russian government said, "Thank you, dear  Nikol Vovayevich. I am glad to see you, too. We last met in Almaty in  January. Unfortunately, the epidemic affected our cooperation with  our partners, including Armenia. Bilateral trade has declined  slightly for objective reasons due to the coronavirus, but I do hope  that through joint efforts we will be able to achieve sustainable  growth by the end of this year, for which there are all necessary  prerequisites. As regards our cultural, humanitarian, historical  ties, we continue to implement the planned events. The four freedoms  you spoke about today are the symbol of our Union, they will be given  a new development within the framework of the agreements we achieved  today."

During the meeting, the parties discussed the agenda of  Armenian-Russian economic cooperation and other issues of mutual  interest.