Russia and Armenia will maintain close relations, the newly elected presidents of both countries said during their first meeting in Moscow on Monday. "This is your first foreign visit after the polls and we see it as a symbol of the high priority that Russian-Armenian relations have," Russia's Dmitry Medvedev, elected on March 2, told Armenia's Serzh Sarksyan, elected on Feb. 19. "We hope that under your leadership we can continue relations we enjoyed in the past years," the Russian president-elect said, welcoming his Armenian counterpart in the Kremlin. Sarksyan will be inaugurated on April 9, while Medvedev will take over the presidency on May 7. Sarksyan intends to establish close ties with Medvedev. He will also meet President Vladimir Putin later on Monday. "I hope your taking over the presidential power will contribute to our traditionally close ties," he told Medvedev.
