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Heads of Armenian, Russian special services discuss intelligence data exchanges

It is noted that the sides are working on a plan of joint work for the coming years

YEREVAN, July 18. /TASS/. Issues of intelligence information exchange were the focus of a meeting between Director of Armenia’s National Security Service Armen Abazyan and Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin on Monday.

"Today, I had a chance to meet with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Apart from that, I had a meeting with my colleague, director of the Armenian National Security Service Armen Abazyan. During the talks, a high assessment was given to the strategic partnership between our countries. <…> Cooperation between special services is part of this cooperation and today we discussed with my colleague issues of intelligence information exchange, joint actions to expose and prevent a range of external threats. Threats to both Armenia and Russia," Naryshkin said after the talks.

According to Naryshkin, the sides are working on a plan of joint work for the coming years.

The press service of the Armenian government said earlier that Naryshkin and Pashinyan discussed issues of regional and international security.

Apart from that, he said his visit to Yerevan was not linked with the recent visit to Armenia by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency William Burns. "Definitely, my visit to Yerevan is not linked with the visit of my American colleague. But I don’t rule out that his visit was linked with my trip," he said.

Naryshkin described cooperation between Russian and Armenian special services as "trust-based, professional and useful" for both countries.

Burns visited Yerevan on July 15. He met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan.

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