Presidents Sarkisian and Putin during a press conference in Moscow Thursday

MOSCOW—President Serzh Sarkisian on Thursday met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss Armenia’s possible involvement in a customs pact, known as the ‘Eurasia Union’ and to agree on future price for Russia’s gas supply to Armenia.

“I think we have come to an agreement about pricing for gas supplies. The price should be based on actual market price of gas taking into account … regional tariffs for the Armenian economy to maintain its efficient position,” Sarkisian told reporters after his meeting with Putin.

Russia’s gas giant Gazprom earlier last month had announced that it would raise prices from $180 per 1,000 cubic meters to $280 from October 2012 and to $320 from 2013.

While the figures of the agreement were not released, Sarkisian in his remarks said that Putin had “confirmed that Russia is interested in having a strong, competitive and developed Armenia. This is a truly allied approach.”

High on the agenda was Russia’s proposed customs union, which includes Belarus and Kazakhstan. Russia has been eager to involve Armenia in its push to create a closely-bound grouping of former Soviet states in what Putin calls “integration processes in the post-Soviet era.”

Armenia has been reluctant to join the union because it does not share a common border with Russia. Putin said that while “we have no common borders [with Armenia] but we could think about using some instruments that have already been agreed upon by the three states.”

In his remarks, Sarkisian emphasized Yerevan’s strong commitment to the Collective Security Treaty Organization and praised Russia’s important role in the South Caucasus.

“Armenia has always aimed to create a stable and peaceful situation in the South Caucasus. Our long-term policy of securing a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been based on that. We believe that Russia plays a singular role in the security of the South Caucasus. This also relates to the resolution of the Karabakh conflict,” said Sarkisian at the joint press conference.