Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu: Armenia is Russia's Key Strategic Partner in South Caucasus

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu held a working meeting with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan on the sidelines of a session of the defense ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Friday.

“Armenia is our ally in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and a key strategic partner in the Transcaucasus. We are extremely interested in maintaining stability in the region, and we make every effort to achieve this. We attach special importance to the development of bilateral cooperation and assistance in enhancing the capabilities of the Armenian Armed Forces," Shoigu said in his opening remarks, as cited by a Russian news agency. 

During the meeting, several issues related to regional security and military cooperation were discussed. At the end of the meeting, the 2023 military cooperation program between Armenian and Russian defense ministries was signed, the Armenian Ministry of Defence reported. 

Putin: Russia Remains Armenia's Leading Trade and Economic Partner

On December 9, the leaders of Armenia and Russia held talks in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on the sidelines of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council’s session. 

In his remarks, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan noted that a group of Azerbaijani officials blocked the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for several hours on December 3. “Unfortunately, there was an increase in tensions in the area of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers. There are huge concerns in Nagorno-Karabakh over this incident,” he said, adding that he wants to discuss “all important issues of regional security.”

Russian President Putin made no mention of the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone. Instead, he touted growing Russian-Armenian trade which solidified Russia’s status as Armenia’s number one trading partner.

“Russia continues to be a leading trade and economic partner - more than 30 percent of Armenia's merchandise turnover goes to Russia. Russia is also one of the leading investors in Armenia's economy, accounting for approximately 40 percent. In the first ten months of this year, the turnover growth is 67 percent. This is a serious and positive indicator,” Putin noted, adding that there are always other questions that need to be discussed. 

Earlier, in his speech delivered at the summit, Pashinyan highlighted the need to focus efforts on maximizing the impact of Eurasian integration, taking into account the national priorities of socio-economic development. He particularly mentioned that for successfully implementing the Eurasian agenda, it is essential to find mutually acceptable solutions to all the issues.

“In this regard, the Armenian side considers the consistent implementation of agreements for creating common energy resource markets to be a priority. The formation of the common gas market remains a sensitive issue. However, considering the complexity of the process, several unresolved issues still exist due to the need to consider different opportunities and interests of countries in the energy sector,” he added.