I am grateful for your invitation to visit the Russian Federation.

The choice of my first visit in this position fully corresponds to the spirit of the Armenian-Russian allied relations based on the deep ties of our peoples, centuries-old friendship and brotherhood.

The essence of our relations is constantly reflected at various levels - from interpersonal contacts of our citizens to interstate relations. This has been also throughout history, in the days of our joint victories and beyond. As you have just mentioned, this was the case during the Spitak earthquake, when we tried to overcome its consequences, and today is the 32nd anniversary of the latter.

At the end of September of this year, the large-scale war against the people of Artsakh unleashed by Azerbaijan with the blatant military-political support of Turkey and the active involvement of foreign terrorist fighters from the Middle East was a new shock.

I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my deep gratitude to the Russian side, and to you personally, Sergey Lavrov, for your great contribution to the complete cessation of hostilities and military operations in the conflict zone and for your consistent efforts.

The current situation, including at the regional level, requires assessments and solutions, the implementation of which we observe from the perspective of a country that bears the following components: a united society and people, accurate functioning of the Armenian state institutions, dynamic economy and a high level of defense capacity, and, finally, from the perspective of a strong state, which cooperates closely with its allies and friends.

We expect that we will continue the discussions that started in Yerevan within the framework of the visit of the Russian interministerial delegation in November.

We are ready to pay due attention to issues such as the activities of the Russian peacekeepers, the creation of conditions for the return of refugees, further steps to provide humanitarian assistance to the population, logistical issues, including in the context of restoring the infrastructure, etc.

It is natural that the issue of searching for the missing people, the exchange of prisoners of war or the body of those killed is very sensitive and requires an urgent solution. It is especially relevant given the fact that there is a lot of evidence on the barbaric treatment of prisoners of war. Among the current issues is the preservation of the Armenian religious and cultural sites.

We are hopeful that Russia, both at the national level and as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, will promote both the resolution of these issues and the peace process of the conflict in general, which makes the further activity of the co-chairing institution more relevant.

We are ready to consider the important aspects of bilateral relations in the totext of the allied cooperation in the political, defense, trade-economic and humanitarian areas, as well as to discuss the multilateral agenda within framework of the EAEU, CSTO and CIS, the issues of foreign policy coordination in the UN and OSCE, as well as other international issues.
I am confident that the mutual interest in ensuring the effectiveness of the visit will contribute to the further development of the allied cooperation and the strengthening of security and stability in the South Caucasus.