The two men made no public statements after holding talks in Medvedev’s Gorki residence outside the Russian capital. The Kremlin said only that they touched upon “pressing issues on the international and regional agenda.”
“I requested this meeting in order to discuss with you certain issues in our bilateral relations, regional security, the current status of the Turkish-Armenian process and, of course, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,” Sarkisian said in his opening remarks at the meeting that were released by the Kremlin.
The meeting came just one week after Sarkisian’s talks in Washington with U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They focused on ways of salvaging the Turkish-Armenian normalization protocols signed last October.
Sarkisian also reportedly discussed with Obama and Clinton international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that are jointly spearheaded by the United States, Russia and France.
The Washington talks took place on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit hosted by Obama. Medvedev and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also participated in the summit.
Medvedev did not comment on either topic as he greeted Sarkisian, mentioning instead close political, economic and military ties between Armenia and Russia. He said frequent meetings between their leaders testify to a “high degree of trust and understanding” and a “spirit of strategic partnership which has always set apart and, I hope, will set apart our states.”
Sarkisian likewise praised bilateral ties, saying that Russian-Armenian inter-governmental bodies are “working intensively” to deepen them further. He also thanked Moscow for providing Yerevan last year with a $500 million loan to mitigate the adverse impact of the global financial crisis on the Armenian economy. The loan has contributed to Armenia’s ongoing economic recovery, he said.