Monday, Armenian Foreign Ministry Says Ukrainian Journalists Had No Accreditation Armenia - Tigran Balayan, a spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses that the group of journalists from Ukraine that was reportedly banned from entering Armenia last week had no accreditation. Earlier, producer of the Ukrainian television company, ICTV, Oksana Dykhnich claimed that their crew was not allowed to enter Armenia despite "all arrangements made as required". She further claimed that the entry ban was imposed at the request of Russia. In a Facebook post Dykhnich said the company's crew went on a business trip to Armenia, but upon arrival were denied entry because they were blacklisted in Russia for their work in the east of Ukraine where government forces are fighting Russian-backed separatists. "This ban is valid for all countries of the [Russian-led] customs union," Dykhnich claimed, recommending that her colleagues in Ukraine consider this circumstance in planning their trips to countries of the Eurasian Economic Union that besides Russia includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. "The Ukrainian TV company did not apply for any accreditation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and this fact was publicly admitted by the producer of the TV station who made an appropriate post on Facebook," Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan told RFE/RL's Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am). "Our employee left a comment to that post and the woman admitted that they did not apply for accreditation," he added. Balayan insisted that Armenia has no "black list" of journalists. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry spokesman did not wish to answer the question on why the Ukrainian television crew was not allowed to enter Armenia. "Answering this question is not within my competence," he said. Meanwhile, in a comment to Dykhnich's Facebook post a user named Hovhannes Igityan (the name of an opposition politician in Armenia) insists that the lack of accreditation cannot become a reason for banning a Ukrainian citizen with a valid passport from entering Armenia, since Armenia and Ukraine have a visa-free regime. Lavrov Arrives In Yerevan After Talks In Baku . Aza Babayan . Gevorg Stamboltsian Armenia - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, 20 Nov 2017 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Monday afternoon as part of his regional tour that included talks in Baku, Azerbaijan. Lavrov's two-day visit to Yerevan officially marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Russia's diplomatic relations with the South Caucasus nation. In Yerevan the Russian foreign minister is expected to meet with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalandian, with their talks likely to focus on long-standing efforts to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Lavrov discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh issue with Azerbaijani officials when he visited Baku on November 19-20. During his meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday the top Russian diplomat reportedly reiterated Russia's interest in helping "find a solution and ensure progress toward the settlement" of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. AZERBAIJAN -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) meets with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (R) in Baku, Along with the United States and France Russia co-heads the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is the existing international mediation format pertaining to the conflict. While in Baku, Lavrov stressed that in the Karabakh settlement issue Moscow has the same position as Washington and Paris and that the rather serious differences in the U.S-Russian relations have not affected the joint mediation efforts in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. "The co-chairs meet with the ministers, regularly visit the region. I hope that the meeting of the presidents [of Armenia and Azerbaijan] that took place last month will contribute to progress in the settlement of the conflict," Lavrov said. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov following their talks, Lavrov said that a continued conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh is not in the interest of anyone. "It is necessary to deal with the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, especially that the main directions in which it is necessary to register progress have already been outlined," Lavrov said. He also said that no enlargement of the OSCE Minsk Group format is on the cards. "All the states that could contribute to the resolution of the problem are represented in the Minsk Group," he said. The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met separately with the Russian, American and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in Moscow last week after which the international mediators said that Nalbandian and Mammadyarov agreed to hold a meeting on the sidelines of an OSCE Ministerial Meeting in Vienna, Austria, next month. Prior to his regional tour Lavrov told Russian state-run TASS news agency that while in Yerevan and Baku "we will try to understand at what stage our efforts on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement are after the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Geneva." During their talks in the Swiss city on October 16, Armenian President Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev pledged to intensify the peace process and bolster the cease-fire regime in the region's conflict zone. Parents In Armenian Village Block Road, Demand School Repairs . Marine Khachatrian Armenia- Rally in the village of Jrarbi, 20 Nov, 2017 Angry parents in a village in western Armenia briefly blocked a road passing through their community on Monday morning in protest against what they described as the lack of elementary conditions at a local school attended by their children. Scores of protesters in Jrarbi, a village situated some 30 kilometers to the west of capital Yerevan, demanded a meeting with Armavir Governor Ashot Ghahramanian to discuss the matter. The demonstrators complained that the school attended by more than 260 students lacks a proper heating system and badly needs repairing. In particular, they said that the windows of the school building are broken, the walls have large cracks and there are no functioning toilets. According to the parents, in cold classrooms heated with kerosene burners children quickly get cold and frequently get sick in winter. "We want the government to do something to repair this school," one of the angry parents told RFE/RL's Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am). "We don't want land or anything from them, we just want them to replace the old windows and install a proper heating system, that's not something big for them." Most of the students did not attend school today. Their parents say they won't let them attend classes until proper conditions are ensured in the school building. Armavir Governor Ghahramanian arrived in Jrarbi to meet with the protesters later on Monday. He promised that "changes will be noticed in the school within 10 days." "We will try to install a heating system that will heat both the corridors and the classrooms," the official said. The newly appointed headmaster of the school, ruling Republican Party member Narek Zakarian, meanwhile, said he still had no idea about how the problems of the school will be solved. "We need to do it so as not to interfere with the classes. I don't know what we are going to do and how. I have no idea," he confessed. Soviet-Era Dissident On Hunger Strike In Armenia Over Constitutional Provision . Sisak Gabrielian Armenia - Politician Paruyr Hayrikian on huger strike in front of the Central Electoral Commision building in Yerevan, 20Nov, 2017 Armenia's prominent Soviet-era dissident Paruyr Hayrikian, who currently heads an extra-parliamentary political party, has gone on an open-ended hunger strike in front of the Central Election Commission (CEC) building in Yerevan over what he described as "anti-constitutional" behavior of the body. Hayrikian, the chairman of the Union for National Self-Determination and a former presidential candidate, claims the CEC acted against the amended Constitution by refusing to provide him with the necessary documents for the start of a signature collection campaign for a constitutional reform. Article 202 of Armenia's new Constitution adopted in a 2015 referendum, in particular, entitles at least 200,000 citizens that are eligible voters to initiate the adoption of a new or amendments to the existing Constitution. "We received a strange reply, which shows that they either do not recognize the 2015 Constitutional referendum and therefore do not accept the new Constitution or challenge the legality of the new Constitution," Hayrikian claimed. Not all of the chapters and articles of the amended Constitution have been enforced yet. The article in question, according to transitional provisions, is due to take legal force when the newly elected president of Armenia assumes office next spring. Still, Hayrikian insists on his right to start the collection of signatures based on the mentioned article of the Constitution even in the absence of proper legislation. CEC Chairman Tigran Mukuchian explained to RFE/RL's Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am) over the weekend that they did not provide Hayrikian with the documents necessary for the collection of signatures because the current law on referendums does not provide for such a procedure. Hayrikian, who spent about 18 years in Soviet prison and was shot and wounded during his bid for the presidency in 2013, has for years sought changes in Armenia's Constitution that he says will enable the country to switch to "absolute democracy" in which "no vote of a citizen will be lost because of a faulty electoral system." This is not the first time Hayrikian goes on hunger strike as a means to support his political demands. The last time he resorted to this form of protest was in 2014 when after Armenia's decision to join a Russian-led trade bloc Hayrikian went on a weeklong hunger strike demanding President Serzh Sarkisian's resignation and the transition of power to pro-European forces. Press Review In the context of the recent student movement against the restriction of the right to draft deferments "Hraparak" notes that while not all of the youth civil initiatives in Armenia have been successful, the authorities have tended to make some concessions and draw conclusions from them. "As a result of these movements new civil leaders, people of new quality and mentally have been born, people who may tomorrow lead also the political struggle," the paper writes, adding that, in the meantime, "politicians of the older generation have always tried to spoil and discredit these young people, to turn them into what they are themselves." "Zhoghovurd" notes Armenia's high degree of militarization that has given it the third rank in the Global Militarization Index for the sixth consecutive year. "There is an opinion that as a result of the steps proceeding from the implementation of the recently introduced Nation-Army model Armenia can mount a serious challenge to Israel, which is the leader according to this international report. Meanwhile, according to the 2017 report on Armenia's national competitiveness, a high degree of militarization limits economic development, draining scarce resources. It turns out that the Karabakh issue, because of which Armenia is forced to raise the level of its militarization, hampers the country's development." The editor of "Aravot" singles out the "large-scale offensive" of the Tsarukian Alliance against the prime minister, the government and especially the chairman of the State Revenue Committee during the latest four-day session of parliament. He assumes the faction was given such an assignment by its leader, wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukian. Yet, the paper's editor sees some healthy element in this struggle, which, in his opinion, generally corresponds to the spirit of parliamentarianism "when different groups in parliament represent competing businesses." "It would be strange and unnatural if all the lawmakers in all matters were unanimous. This would mean that there is no competition in our economy," he concludes. (Tatev Danielian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org