Putin, Pashinyan Discuss Nuclear Plant, Ties in Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin received Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the Kremlin. The leaders of the two countries discussed the operation of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant and bilateral relations.

As reported by the Kremlin press service, Putin said:

"We are very glad to see you. Thank you for accepting our invitation and participating in this international event dedicated to the development of the atomic industry. This is natural, as Armenia has long had an operating nuclear power plant, which, as you yourself noted at the forum, provides 30 percent of the country's electricity. This is a significant figure, 30 percent—one-third of all electricity—is produced by the nuclear power plant.

'Rosatom' is currently working on extending the life of this nuclear power plant. Therefore, your presence at the forum is, of course, completely logical.

Overall, relations are developing steadily and well. The trade turnover of almost 11 billion dollars, which I believe constitutes 34 percent of the Republic's foreign trade turnover, is 11.7 billion dollars according to our statistics. This is a record figure for the year 2024.

Relations are also developing in all other areas. We always have something to discuss, although we met recently, but nevertheless, we are very glad to see you in Moscow."

Nikol Pashinyan replied:

"Thank you very much, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, for the invitation to participate in the 'Global Atomic Week' forum. Today we learned a lot about nuclear technologies, and thank you for sharing.

Of course, the role of nuclear energy is constantly growing, and nuclear energy is now considered a green energy option on a global scale. Indeed, nuclear energy is also very important for our country.

You correctly noted that we are closely cooperating with the Russian Federation and are working to extend the life of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant until 2036.

We are now working on and finding suitable projects for small modular nuclear power plants for Armenia. And, of course, we are in a very active dialogue with the Russian Federation on this issue. We cooperate very effectively with the 'Rosatom' corporation.

Overall, our relations are indeed developing steadily. You also mentioned mutual trade. It is true that this year there has been a certain decline due to certain global processes, but I think it is important to work on this topic so that our mutual trade continues to grow at the rates we set for 2023 and 2024.

And, of course, our relations have a very rich agenda, and we always have a lot to discuss."