On the 25th of September, 2009 the RA Minister of Defence Seyran Ohanyan received the newly appointed ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Armenia Mr. Vyacheslav Kovalenko.

Congratulating the ambassador for taking the post, the RA Minister of Defence hoped that, while he officiates, the friendly relations of the two countries and the Armenian-Russian strategic cooperation will be even more strengthened. At the end of the meeting the parties discussed matters regarding the participation of the Armenian and Russian military groups in the CSTO Collective Forces of Fast Reaction Maneuvers in Kazakhstan on the 1st-16th of October, the opening of a modern language laboratory in the RA Ministry of Defence for teaching Russian, reopening the monument built in Giumri in the memory of the Russian victims in the Russian-Turkish war in 1777-1778.