Kremlin rules out near-term Putin-Pashinyan contact

PanARMENIAN.Net - No contact is currently planned between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“No, because such contact took place recently, therefore there are no such plans,” he said before departing for Astana, where the Eurasian Economic Union summit will be held, Interfax.ru reported.

The Armenian prime minister last met with the Russian president on April 1.

Pashinyan will not travel to Astana to participate in the EAEU summit.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Armenia’s simultaneous participation in the customs systems of both the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union is impossible for economic reasons.

“Someday, perhaps years later, we — the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union — and I hope this eventually happens, since we live on the same continent, will be able to resolve these issues. But even before the Ukrainian crisis, when we tried to reach agreements with the Europeans on working together, nothing came of it. On almost every issue, as it seemed to me at the time, even on minor matters, they took a very tough position,” Putin said.