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Putin, Armenia’s Pashinyan hold tete-a-tete during CIS leaders’ St. Petersburg excursion

The leaders engaged in a lively conversation while standing apart from their CIS colleagues

ST. PETERSBURG, December 26. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin held a one-on-one conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan while the two leaders took part in an excursion to St. Petersburg’s historic Pavlovsk Palace and park during the annual informal summit of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) national leaders.

The Pavlovsk Palace, located near St. Petersburg, was the site of a tour today by the leaders of all CIS countries, who are currently visiting the city for an informal summit hosted by Putin. The meeting kicked off with a cultural program, which called for the leaders to take excursions to several of St. Petersburg’s world-renowned palaces in an informal setting.

Video footage from the Pavlovsk visit showed Putin and Pashinyan engaged in a lively conversation while standing apart from their CIS colleagues.

As Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted earlier, the Russian president and the Armenian premier had no plans for a full-scale meeting within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and CIS summits being held in St. Petersburg on December 25-26, but the Pavlovsk excursion provided a "wonderful opportunity to interact on the sidelines."

The Pavlovsk Palace and park ensemble, created at the height of Russian Classicism in the late 18th century to early 19th century is a World Heritage Site protected by UNESCO.

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