RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN RELATIONS DEVELOP FAST ALMOST IN ALL DIRECTIONS, PUTIN SAID

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Russian-Armenian relations fast develop almost in all directions, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a joint press conference with the Armenian leader in Yerevan today. In his words, the opening of the Year of Russia in Armenia is the best proof of it. «I very much count on all the 200 events planned to be held,» V. Putin noted. In hi opinion, the number of these will be more, as applications from new regions are being constantly received. «Forthcoming is an important and significant event - the 60-th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, - he noted, - and many events within the framework of the Year of Russia in Armenia are dedicated just to that date. Our peoples fought with Nazism side by side. We will mark this memorable date of our common history together.» V. Putin also thanked the Armenian President for his decision to arrive in Moscow on the eve of the celebration of the 60-th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War and to take part in festivities on the occasion May 9. In his turn R. Kocharian noted that it is necessary for the program to include events on the occasion of the Year of Russia in Armenia for Armenian citizens to get a full notion of today's Russia. Answering a question to say that cultural links of the Armenian and Russian peoples become an age-specific category, Putin noted that such a problem is available and it is due to first of all contacts between the two peoples being limited recently. «This is not so much of political, but of economic nature: the decrease of the cooperation scope, that of cultural exchange that are due to people experiencing more difficulties in movement throughout the post-soviet space than within a state. These questions are being constantly considered,» the President noted and continued, «we constantly search for opportunities to overcome these difficulties, the activities of all unions in the post-soviet space aim at it.» In his words, special attention should be paid to youth exchange and involvement of young people in cooperation between the two countries. «I count for the events within the framework of the Year of Russia in Armenia to promote solution of this problem,» Putin noted. In his turn Kocharian also noted the presence of the age-specific element in the Armenian-Russian relations. In his opinion, the capacities of contemporary information and telecommunication technologies can actively be used in that sphere. He specially accentuated the importance of Kultura Russian TV channel broadcasts in Armenia. «Russian TV channels could have presented programs about former soviet countries more frequently. It is a pity to lose what is gained by so many generations,» Robert Kocharian emphasized.