The Prime Minister of Armenia highly appreciated the results of negotiations with Vladimir Putin, but not everyone shares the optimism of the head of the government. While official Yerevan talks about new arrangements, the Russian side and the Armenian opposition point to systemic differences.

RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan the working visit to Moscow and the President of Russia on April 1 Vladimir Putin considers the meeting very effective. During the briefing with journalists, the head of the Armenian government emphasized that the parties managed to reach substantive agreements in almost all directions of the bilateral agenda. According to him, the agreements reached cover various spheres of interaction, from cultural exchange to military-technical cooperation.

Despite the positive assessments of the Prime Minister, the results of the Moscow negotiations did not find a clear response among the Armenian society. In particular, the representatives of the political opposition expressed serious doubts about the success of the visit. The tense tone of the dialogue between the heads of state came into the center of attention of the critics, which, according to their conviction, indicates the presence of deep and unresolved contradictions.

The complex background of bilateral relations is also confirmed by the public statements of the Russian authorities. During the meeting, Vladimir Putin openly noted the incompatibility of Armenia’s simultaneous membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union. This harsh rhetoric was complemented by the statement of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey Overchuk. The latter warned that Yerevan has come too close to the critical point, after crossing which Moscow will have to radically revise and build economic ties with the Armenian side in a completely different way.

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