BISHKEK — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed concern about increased tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for the second time in just over two weeks.
The two leaders held fresh talks in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on the sidelines of a Eurasian Economic Union summit. They previously met in Yerevan on November 23.
Pashinyan noted at the start of their conversation that the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was blocked by a group of Azerbaijani officials for several hours on December 3.
“There are very big concerns in Nagorno-Karabakh about this,” he said, adding that he wants to discuss with Putin “all important issues of regional security.”
In his opening remarks, Putin made no mention of the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone. Instead, he touted growing Russian-Armenian trade which has solidified Russia’s status as Armenia’s number one trading partner.
“In the first ten months of this year, the growth of trade turnover reached 67 percent. This is a very good and positive indicator,” the Russian President said.
