Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at a meeting of the Russian interagency delegation with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, Yerevan, November 21, 2020

Mr Pashinyan,

Colleagues,

First of all, I would like to convey the best regards and wishes from President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin.

We have come here by decision of President Putin. You discussed with him the agenda for today’s meetings. You also talked about this visit with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

We would like to discuss, as you said, the entire range of our relations following the statement adopted on November 9 by the leaders of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation, which stopped the bloodshed and created conditions for stabilisation in all areas, including the humanitarian sphere. As you are aware, the Russian peacekeepers are actively implementing the agreement, in particular, providing humanitarian aid.

Today we will also talk about the issues related to the establishment of the Interdepartmental Humanitarian Response Centre. This new structure is designed to cater to the needs of the civilian population and the restoration of civilian infrastructure. Today we will also discuss current issues of our economic cooperation, in particular, energy cooperation, in accordance with the programme which has been kindly prepared by our Armenian friends.

I would like to point out that we are actively collaborating with international agencies and UN bodies, such as the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Development Programme, the UN World Food Programme, UNICEF, UNESCO and the International Committee of the Red Cross. We have established contacts with all of these organisations and their leadership. Today we are ready to exchange views on the best way to organise their contribution to the settlement of the problems which need to be addressed and resolved.

We are grateful to you for the traditional warm welcome we received in Yerevan. We would like to reaffirm our support for the fraternal Armenian people.

If you will, my colleagues are ready to present our views on various aspects of our economic, energy and humanitarian cooperation, including our common efforts to tackle the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thank you.