YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian received Vyacheslav Kovalenko, the newly appointed Russian Ambassador to Armenia, on the occasion of handing the copies of the credentials on August 24. Greeting the guest Minister Edward Nalbandian congratulated him on the occasion of being appointed the Russian Ambassador to Armenia and wished him success in implementing his diplomatic mission. Highly appreciating the Armenian-Russian relations, Edward Nalbandian said that the mutual understanding, trust and cooperation between Russia and Armenia create a good basis for strengthening allied relations and military cooperation for the general benefit of the two brotherly nations, and that the Ambassador Kovalenko will have an important contribution in the process of further deepening and expanding the cooperation. According to the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press and Public Relations Deparment, in his turn, Ambassador Kovalenko appreciating the current state of Armenian-Russian relations noted that he will do his best for strengthening the present cooperation, and for the development of the bilateral relations in different spheres. At the meeting Edward Nalbandian and Ambassador Kovalenko discussed a series of questions concerning the Armenian-Russian agenda, exchanged thoughts on the territorial and international issues. Vyacheslav Kovalenko was born in 1946. He graduated from the Institute of Oriental Languages under M. Lomonosov Moscow University. He has begun his diplomatic service since 1973. He took the position of Deputy Director of CIS Second Department of Russian Foreign Ministry in 2004-2006. He was appointed the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Georgia in 2006. He speaks Arabic, Belarusian and French. He is married and has three children.

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