Armenian prime minister to visit Moscow next week

MOSCOW (AA) – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on Thursday that he will visit Moscow next week.

"I can only say for sure that next week I will go to Moscow," Pashinyan said during his speech at the Center for Transatlantic Relations in Prague, Czech Republic's capital city.

The Armenian premier also commented on relations with Azerbaijan, noting that it has been difficult to reach an agreement with Baku on issues such as recognizing the territorial integrity of Armenia, which spans 29,800 square kilometers (11,506 square miles).

So far, neither country has been able to reach an agreement on mechanisms for resolving differences in interpretation of the peace treaty's text, Pashinyan said.

The issue of international mechanisms to ensure the implementation of the peace agreement, as well as the conflict in Karabakh, remains under discussion, he added.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Baku during a war in the fall of 2020, which ended with a Russian-brokered peace agreement and opened the door to normalization.