Yahoo! Voices
Day: May 8, 2024
The meeting of Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin is taking place in the Kremlin.
The President of the Russian Federation said: “Dear Nikol Vovaevich, once again I am very happy to welcome you to Moscow.
We had a jubilee summit, the EAEU marked the 10th anniversary, cooperation within the framework of that international organization has positive impact on all countries, including Russia and Armenia. The increase in trade turnover for Armenia with EAEU countries has been significant since 2015 – 14 times. As for bilateral relations, they are also developing successfully. First of all, we pay attention to economic cooperation. Last year saw significant increase in trade turnover, which is related to the increase in your exports to our country. The trade turnover between our countries amounted to more than seven billion dollars, such a volume has never been seen in our trade and economic relations. Of course, there are issues not only related to the increase in trade turnover, there are issues related to security in the region, we will not discuss them in open mode now, but there is an opportunity to talk about the entire spectrum of our relations, including security issues in the region, at the EAEU working platform.
I am very happy to see you, welcome.”
In his turn, the Prime Minister of Armenia noted. “Thank you dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, first of all, let me thank you for the warm hospitality and for organizing the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at a high level. The last time we met was in December, during which, of course, there were a lot of issues that needed to be discussed. Of course, we have already discussed the economic sector during the session, and I am sure that now we will discuss the most important issues of bilateral relations, regional issues.
I am also happy to see you”.
Armenia announced that will cease its financial participation to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, ties to which were frozen by Yerevan earlier this year.
“The Republic of Armenia will refrain from joining the CSTO Collective Security Council’s decision on the CSTO Budget for 2024 and will not participate in the financing of the organization’s activities, while not objecting to the adoption of this decision in a limited format,” Armenia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan told Armenia’s Public Television.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced in February that Armenia has frozen its membership in the Russian-led CSTO, saying that the security bloc had failed to fulfill its obligations in 2021 and 2022 to ensure Armenia’s security, “and we could not leave this without consequences.”
Armenia had asked Russia and other CSTO allies for military intervention after Azerbaijan launched offensive military operations along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in September 2022.
Last year, Armenia not only avoided CSTO meetings at various levels, but also cancelled CSTO exercises in Armenia, refused to appoint an Armenian deputy head of the organization and recalled the Armenian representative to the Moscow headquarters.
The Uruguay Senate on Tuesday unanimously voted in favor of a draft law declaring April 24 as “Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.”
The new law mandates that all state television and radio stations air programs about the Armenian Genocide on April 24, the Armenian Embassy in Uruguay announced.
Senators representing various political parties welcomed the law, while emphasizing the importance of remembering atrocities like the Armenian Genocide to prevent history from repeating itself.
Senators who shared remarks include Luis Alberto Heber; Liliam Kechichian; Tabaré Viera; Javier García; Marcos Methol; José Nunes; Amanda Della Ventura Alejandro Sánchez; Graciela Bianchi; Carlos Camy and Carmen Asiaín.
The Senate also highlighted the opening of the Armenian Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital city.
The senators noted that Armenia continues to face security challenges, and remembered how, in 2022, the Senate unanimously condemned the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, showing solidarity with the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The draft law has already been transferred to the House of Representatives, where it will also be put to a vote.