Is the Cancellation of the Putin-Pashinyan Meeting Related to Robert Kocharian? Clarification from Mane Gevorgyan

Information has circulated online that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's official visit to the Russian Federation has been canceled. It was noted that the visit was scheduled for April, but it has been postponed indefinitely at the initiative of the Kremlin.

The cancellation of the visit has been linked to the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian. It was suggested that this signals that "Russian President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated his negative assessment of the criminal case initiated against Armenia's second president Robert Kocharian on apparent political grounds, and that the Armenian authorities do not even want to change his pretrial detention, whereas the Russian president has repeatedly indicated his attitude towards Kocharian, both directly and indirectly."

Mane Gevorgyan, spokesperson for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, told ArmDaily.am that there has never been information indicating a meeting between the Armenian Prime Minister and the Russian President was scheduled for April. "It was said that a meeting is planned in the first half of the year, but there has been no indication that it was supposed to take place in April. No specific timeframe has been mentioned," she stated.

Gevorgyan did not respond to the question of whether the timelines for the meeting have been clarified. "I cannot say when this meeting is specifically planned, I can only say that everything is proceeding as normal, and the preparatory work is underway," she added.