Armen Ashotian, the deputy chairman of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), said on Thursday that the meeting took place “at the initiative of the Russian side.”
He said Sarkisian thanked Russia for helping to maintain the ceasefire regime in the conflict zone and providing humanitarian assistance to Karabakh.
The ex-president also stressed the importance of continued Russian involvement in international efforts to achieve a “final peaceful settlement” of the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute, Ashotian wrote on Facebook.
“At the ambassador’s request, President Sarkisian addressed issues relating to the internal political situation as well as new geopolitical realities in the region,” he said, adding that Kopyrkin presented Moscow’s positions on the issues discussed by the two men. He gave no other details.
The conversation came one day after Sarkisian and several other leaders of an Armenian opposition alliance met to discuss their joint efforts to force Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to resign over his handling of the recent war in Karabakh. Former President Robert Kocharian, another bitter critic of Pashinian, was also in attendance.
Two of those leaders said on Wednesday that the alliance called the Homeland Salvation Movement will resume anti-government protests soon.
Meanwhile, Kocharian was due to visit Moscow for the second time in less than two months. A spokeswoman for the ex-president said he will attend a meeting of the board of a major Russian company.
Kopyrkin met with another former Armenian president, Levon Ter-Petrosian, on January 25. A spokeswoman for Ter-Petrosian said the meeting focused on the current situation in the Karabakh conflict zone.