Contacts between Russian, Armenian leaders not envisaged in near future - Kremlin

MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - No top-level contacts between the leaders of Armenia and Russia are envisaged in the near future, but a phone conversation can be organized promptly, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

"No top-level contacts are currently envisaged in the schedule. At the same time, of course, a phone conversation can be organized fairly quickly, if necessary," Peskov said in response to a question from journalists on Monday as to whether contacts are planned between the leaders of Russia and Armenia regarding Yerevan's membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his country was freezing its participation in CSTO activities, noting that this is now being done de facto, but de jure freezing the country's membership was not ruled out. In this regard, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow expected full certainty from Yerevan regarding its CSTO membership. Journalists asked Peskov whether direct contact between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was planned to clarify the issue.