MOSCOW, July 6 (Reuters) – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Monday that he hoped the South Caucasus country could mend its relationship with Russia and resolve certain “problematic issues” which have arisen recently.
Moscow imposed wide-ranging trade restrictions on Armenia in the lead-up to an election last month, temporarily banning imports of many Armenian goods, including fresh produce, flowers, fish and alcoholic products.
Pashinyan made the comments in a joint news conference with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, in his first visit to Russia since winning re-election in a parliamentary vote in June.
Pashinyan said he saw the meeting, held as part of an international industrial exhibition, as “a good opportunity, as they say, to synchronise our watches.”
“A number of problematic issues have arisen recently, and, of course, I hope that we will discuss and resolve these matters,” he was quoted as saying by the Armenpress state news agency.
Pashinyan has steered Armenia, a treaty ally of Russia’s, in a pro-Western direction in recent years, drawing the ire of Moscow, which threatened to suspend Yerevan from the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union if the country continued to seek European Union membership.
Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party was re-elected last month after defeating several pro-Russian opposition parties.
“We are committed to the further development of our relations with the Russian Federation. And, of course, we are keen to participate in the Eurasian Economic Union,” Pashinyan told Mishustin.
Armenia is heavily dependent on Russia for energy supplies, and Russia accounted for about 35% of Armenia’s foreign trade last year.
The EU has disbursed €52 million in economic support to Armenia in the month since the election, and has liberalised some export rules for Armenian goods heading to EU markets.
(Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn and William Maclean)
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