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Akbar Novruz

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Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is scheduled to meet Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on July 6 on the sidelines of the XVI International Industrial Exhibition Innoprom, according to the Russian government, AzerNEWS reports.

The meeting will take place after Mishustin addresses the exhibition's plenary session, titled "Industry 360: Production without Borders."

According to the Russian government's announcement, Mishustin will also hold bilateral meetings with Belarusian Prime Minister Alexander Turchin and Kyrgyz Prime Minister and Head of the Presidential Administration Adylbek Kasymaliev during the event.

The upcoming talks follow a telephone conversation between Mishustin and Pashinyan on July 1, during which the two leaders discussed bilateral trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Armenia. The Russian government noted that the call took place at the initiative of the Armenian side.

The relationship between the two countries has been quite bitter over the course of a year. Russia, for instance, has notably not recognised the outcome of the elections, nor has it congratulated Pashinyan for his victory, breaking tradition as a longtime ally of Armenia. Instead, various Russian officials dubbed the elections as ‘questionable’, claimed unprecedented Western involvement in the vote, and reportedly instructed state media to portray the vote as a ‘loss’ for Pashinyan and to question his legitimacy.

The meeting also comes amid ongoing tensions over Armenia's foreign policy orientation as Kremlin assumes. On June 26, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the actions of the current Armenian authorities could not be described as those of a good-faith member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), adding that Yerevan should determine its long-term strategic choice between the EAEU and the European Union as soon as possible.