PM Pashinyan and President Macron Discuss Karabakh and International Developments

YEREVAN — French President Emmanuel Macron and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone in a phone call on Tuesday.

“The sides touched upon the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh and the strengthening of security and stability in the South Caucasus region,” reported the Armenian government’s press office. It did not give any details.

A statement released by the office said the two men also discussed the agenda of Pashinyan’s upcoming visit to Paris which will be timed to coincide with a “French-Armenian cooperation forum” to be held there.

Macron and Pashinyan further “exchanged views on processes taking place in the international arena,” the statement added in an apparent reference to the escalating war in Ukraine.

Like other Western leaders, Macron has strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and backed the European Union’s tough sanctions against Moscow. He phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in another attempt to stop the hostilities.

Armenia has still not officially reacted to the large-scaled military assault launched by its main ally.

Pashinyan spoke with Putin by phone on Saturday. Official Russian and Armenian sources did not mention Ukraine in their statements on the call. The Kremlin said they continued to discuss “practical aspects” of implementing Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow during and after the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.