Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Kamsky Garden in St. Petersburg, where he laid flowers at the monument to Komitas and the khachkar dedicated to the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide. The Prime Minister was met by numerous representatives of the Armenian Diaspora, who wished Nikol Pashinyan every success for the good of Armenia.

Then the Prime Minister visited the Hermitage, where he was met by museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky. Nikol Pashinyan also met with a group of cultural figures in the Hermitage, after which he toured the museum. Nikol Pashinyan said the meeting with art figures was a great honor for him and stressed that the Armenian government is keen to consistently develop relationships between Armenia and Russia and raise them to a new level.

“Our relations have always been at a high level, and I think that they are based on the rich cultural ties existing between Armenian and Russian cultural figures. I mean not only professional, but also human bonds: professional ties strengthen human ties, and vice versa. We deem it necessary to further deepen cultural ties and attach great importance to the fact that the Hermitage stores many exhibits with Armenian footprints,” the Premier said, adding that St. Petersburg is dear to many renowned Armenians as they used to live, get education and work there.

Then Nikol Pashinyan answered the questions of cultural figures, which concerned Armenian-Russian relations, cultural cooperation, the development of film production in Armenia, the implementation of student projects, the preservation of architectural buildings, the changes taking place in our country, as well as the Armenian-Turkish relations.

Regarding the latter, Nikol Pashinyan stressed that Turkey associates the Armenian-Turkish relations with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and deemed it strange that the Turkish side keeps conditioning them with the relations with a third country.

“Turkey unilaterally closed the Armenian-Turkish border; it can be considered unclosed from the Armenian side. The international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is crucial for us, and Armenia has always been in the forefront of the fight against genocides,” Nikol Pashinyan said, adding that the issue of genocide is for our country a matter of global struggle against genocides rather than a problem of Armenian-Turkish relations. “We stand ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions," the Prime Minister said.

In conclusion, the Prime Minister of Armenia entered the Book of Honorary Guests. Nikol Pashinyan’s working visit to Russia is over.