MOSCOW, October 4./TASS/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan plans to visit Russia, and preparations are underway for his in-person meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Monday.

Earlier on Monday, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko met with President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan, saying that a face-to-face meeting of Putin and Pashinyan was prepared.

"[Pashinyan’s visit to Russia] is expected. A personal meeting [with Putin] is being prepared," the Kremlin spokesman said. This year, Putin and Pashinyan met in person three times, and they spoke over the phone more than ten times. According to Matviyenko, these active contacts set the pace to the entire range of Russian-Armenian relations.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Alen Simonyan discussed the post-conflict settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh and the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group. The Armenian speaker expressed gratitude to the Russian leadership for mediatory efforts in the settlement of the armed conflict around Karabakh.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.