Armenian National Assembly Speaker Ruben Rubinyan met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin on August 25 to discuss further development of interparliamentary cooperation between Armenia and Russia.

Rubinyan stated that the Armenian parliament intends to “continue the constructive dialogue” and develop “long-term, mutually beneficial cooperation” with Russia. The sides also highlighted the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee on Cooperation between Armenia’s National Assembly and Russia’s Federal Assembly and welcomed its joint activities.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk affirmed that Moscow remains ready for constructive dialogue with Armenia but argued that Yerevan must meet Russian phytosanitary control requirements. He noted that the issue concerns problems detected in Armenian products rather than their general quality.

Pashinyan has accused Armenian opposition groups of encouraging Russia’s restrictions on Armenian goods. He claimed the measures were part of what he described as a “secret plan” to create economic difficulties, trigger social unrest and ultimately force a change of government. Pashinyan linked the alleged plan to earlier comments by Strong Armenia Alliance leader Samvel Karapetyan.

Separately, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also stressed the issue of Armenia’s nuclear sector, defending continued Russian involvement in the Metsamor nuclear power plant and criticizing claims that the facility poses a regional security threat. She described such claims as attempts to weaken Russian-Armenian cooperation and promote Western projects and technologies.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, meanwhile, has further underlined that Armenia is pursuing a strategy of energy independence and must decide within the next year “with whom and what kind of nuclear power plant” it will build, as the current facility approaches the end of its operating period in 2036.