V. Soghomonyan: Armenia Will Have to Reconsider Some Priorities in Energy Field

PanARMENIAN.Net - "The Armenian and Russian Presidents did not agree on the price for gas. The final agreement will to all appearances be reached in mid February," RA President's Spokesman Victor Soghomonyan stated at a press conference in Yerevan today. He reminded that during the meeting Robert Kocharian and Vladimir Putin voiced satisfaction with the current stage of the Armenian-Russia relations and expressed hope that they will be preserved this year. The parties also referred to the problem of Russian gas imported to Armenia. V. Soghomonyan refuted the hearsay that the Armenian party proposed Russia 45% stake in the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. When commenting on the opinion that Armenia's attitude towards Russia changed in view of the rise in prices for gas V. Soghomonyan noted that the situation with the Russian gas certainly arouses regret. "Of course, the Armenian party would like to settle the issue in a simpler way taking into account the strategic partnership between Armenia and Russia," he noted. "At the same time our relationships are viewed as strategic and do not restrict to the cooperation in the energy field it's worthy speaking of reconsideration of the priorities," he added.



In his words, "as for the energy field, here something should be reconsidered." However the strategic partnership with Russia is multisided and is rated as efficient, thus it's not the reason to reconsider the whole scope of relations with Russia. "We are concerned over the public opinion not in favor of Russia," he noted. He also noted that anti-Russian statements that can be heard on the Armenian television recently have nothing in common with the Armenian state policy.



To remind, Kommersant daily reported that Moscow has given an ultimatum for its strategic ally: either gas price will be raised to $110 or Armenia will hand to Gazprom its gas infrastructure and then enjoy cheap gas for one more year. Robert Kocharian accepted the ultimatum and is willing to transfer a 45% stake in the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline under construction to Russia.