ARMENTEL GETS PREPARED FOR EMERGENCE OF A RIVAL COMPANY
ArmenPress
Sept 3 2004
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Out of $106.3 million investments
to Armenia’s economy in the first half of 2004 $41.5 million were made
by ArmenTel telephone operator in the telecommunications sector. Some
$21 million of this money were direct investments.
According to deputy trade and economic development minister Tigran
Davtian, ArmenTel’s investment this year were 41 percent higher
than in 2003. He attributed the increase to the operator’s plans
to get prepared for emergence of a rival company which is likely to
enter the mobile phone market next year in line with the government’s
resolute to strip ArmenTel of its exclusive rights in cellular phone
and Internet markets.
The deputy minister also said that $2 or $3 million were invested
in the same time span in Armenia’s information technology sector.
“Though this is not a big figure, this sector allows good returns
on small investments,” he said, adding that the sector is being now
diversified and unlike some years ago when the main focus was on
programming and orders used to come from abroad, now there are new
development directions.
The deputy minister said a delegation of Intel company, one of the
leading manufacturers of computer processors, is coming to Armenia on
September 14 to look into possibilities of starting a business here.
He reiterated that liberalization of telecommunications market would
result in a swift development of the sector.

The negotiators: ‘Peace doctor’ respected by rebels, officials
Agence France Presse
Sept 4 2004
MOSCOW – Children’s doctor Leonid Roshal, who was attempting to mediate
a way out of the hostage crisis at a school in southern Russia before
it came to a bloody end yesterday, is a veteran of tense situations who
enjoys the trust of both Chechen rebels and the Russian authorities.
Dr Roshal, who arrived in the North Ossetian town of Beslan on
Wednesday and held several sessions of telephone talks with the
hostage-takers before the siege ended, negotiated the release of eight
children during the siege of a Moscow theatre in October 2002, after
a Chechen commando took some 800 theatre-goers and performers hostage.
‘The situation is serious. We have come up against very cruel people,’
Dr Roshal told relatives just hours before Russian special forces
stormed the school.
His worst fears came true later.
The white-haired doctor, aged 71 and known to the Russian media as the
‘peace doctor’, won the respect of Chechen rebels during the first
separatist war of 1994-96 when he provided medical care to wounded
Chechen children.
The media speculated that the hostage-takers in Beslan had called
specifically for Dr Roshal to mediate.
During the Dubrovka theatre crisis, in which he persuaded the
hostage-takers to allow water and medication into the building,
he operated on one of the rebels who had received a wound to the hand.
After working with the victims of the massive Armenian earthquake of
1988, Dr Roshal set up a team of doctors to work in war and natural
disaster zones.
He and his colleagues have provided care for children in war zones
in the former Yugoslavia (1991), Georgia (1991-92), Nagorno Karabakh
(1992) and Chechnya (1995).
Last year, during the US-led invasion of Iraq, he proposed a ‘green
corridor’ to evacuate children from the cities of Baghdad and Basra.
Dr Roshal, who was decorated by President Vladimir Putin for his
mediation efforts during the Dubrovka crisis, during which at least
129 hostages died, is also a member of the presidential commission
on human rights.

Poland to withdraw its troops from more of Iraq: Defence Minister
Agence France Presse
Sept 3 2004
WARSAW (AFP) Sep 03, 2004 — Poland will hand over another part of the
zone it administers in Iraq under a planned reduction of its forces
next year, Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said in an interview
published Friday. The key US ally, which heads a multinational force
of 6,500 administering a swathe of south central Iraq to which it
sent more than 2,500 of its own troops, will hand over control of
the province of Karbala, he said.
“We will leave the province of Karbala. The contingent will remain
deployed in the provinces of Babil, Wasit and Al-Qadisiyah,” the
defence minister said in an interview with the daily Trybuna.
He did not specify which forces would assume responsibility in
Poland’s place.
Last month, Polish troops in Iraq already handed over some of the
zone they control to US forces, including the province of Najaf,
the scene of fierce fighting with Shiite militiamen.
Szmajdzinski confirmed that Poland was expecting to reduce troop levels
in Iraq after the Iraqi elections in January and also announced that it
will hand over its troops’ headquarters in the Iraqi city of Babylon
to the Iraqis.
“We have decided to hand over Babylon to the Iraqis. The headquarters
will probably move to the province of Al-Qadisiyah (south of Baghdad),”
he said.
His comments came as Warsaw hosted a two-day conference of military
experts from the 11 nations in the Polish-led sector and the United
States to thrash out plans to cut back the Polish military presence
in Iraq.
“We are not in a position today to determine the size of the next
contingent (which will take over in January). This will depend on
the situation in Iraq, on the political process and the progress in
forming an Iraq army, which is due to replace us,” Szmajdzinski said.
“I remain moderately optimistic about the months ahead. We should
have the chance to reduce the contingent,” he added.
Amid strong popular opposition to the Polish troop deployment and
continued unrest in the embattled country, the government in Warsaw is
under domestic pressure to significantly scale back Poland’s military
involvement in Iraq.
Despite the Polish reduction, one more country will contribute a small
number of troops to the multinational force, the Polish deputy chief
of staff, General Mieczyslaw Cieniuch, said.
The former Soviet republic of Armenia will send at the end of November
or early December a contingent of “several dozen military personnel,
specialists in logistics, bomb disposal experts and doctors,” he told
a press conference.

Armenia gathers donor blood for Beslan hostages
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 3, 2004 Friday
YERVAN, September 3 — Armenia has appealed to the country’s blood
donors to give blood for the hostages held in the North Ossetian town
of Beslan.
The Armenian Health Ministry has announced that any person willing
to donate blood will be welcome at the Yerevan Research Institute
of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, and Armenian Public Television
has shown the address and telephone number of the Institute, where
physicians are on duty round the clock.
Ararat Gomtsian, Head of the Armenian Consulate-General in
Russia’s Southern Federal District, told ITAR-TASS by telephone
from Rostov-on-Don on Friday that he would travel to North Ossetia
on Saturday.
If need be, he intends to organize the airlifting of the victims to
Yerevan for treatment. According to preliminary data, there were five
Armenians – four children and their mother – among the hostages taken
in Beslan.
It transpired on Friday that the hostage takers were also holding an
Armenian family of three or four people.

CIS leaders condemn terrorist act in N Ossetia
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 3, 2004 Friday
MOSCOW, September 4 – Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich
condemned the hostage-taking in Beslan, North Ossetia, and said it was
“an inhuman example of terrorism”.
“This is one of the examples of terrorism, unfortunately a terrible
one not only for Russia but for the whole world,” he said on Friday.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko sent condolences to Russian
President Vladimir Putin and all Russian people in connection with
the tragedy in Beslan.
“Please convey our sympathies to the families who lost their beloved
ones,” he said.
Earlier, Lukashenko offered support to Putin and the people of Russia
in connection with the “inhuman actions of terrorists”.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said “Georgians have taken
the events in Beslan as their own anguish and tragedy”.
“I have sent a letter to the president of Russia and expressed
condolences in connection with the tragedy in Beslan. No one is insured
against such phenomena. Terrorism has no borders or nationality. This
is a problem for the whole world,” he said in his message.
In his words, Georgian authorities “have done much in the last few
months to prevent terrorists from entering the country” and will
“continue efforts in this direction”.
Armenia has begun collecting donor blood for the former hostages.
In his appeal to the Russian people and the leadership of the country,
Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia said, “Everyone holding
the reins of ower, every person in this country has a duty of doing
everything he or she can do to alleviate the suffering of the innocent
people, who have gone through the terrorist captivity.”
“The news of the unprecedented cruelty of the bandits who captured
peaceful citizens, women and children in a school in Beslan shocked
the international community. Having shed all masks, terrorism showed
its satanic face by having trampled upon all sacred things,” the
document said.
“With no fear of God and shame the so-called ‘freedom fighters’
raised their blood-stained hands at children. There is no and can be
no justification for their insane actions,” the patriarch said.
The patriarch instructed all Orthodox churches to hold religious
services on Sunday for the victim.
“Prayers will be offered for those killed as well as those who are
in hospital, who are wounded, and who need support,” the patriarch
said in his decree.
“While mourning for those killed in this tragedy, the Russian Orthodox
Church offers prayers for the repose of their souls. At the same time,
we are praying for the recovery of those wounded. May God help them
go through this ordeal with dignity,” Alexy II said.
The Russian Jewish Congress has expressed condolences to the people
of North Ossetia in connection with the loss of life in Beslan.
The head of the Russian Jewish Congress, Yevgeny Satanovsky, sent a
message of condolences to North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov
on Friday.
“The events in North Ossetia show once again that terrorism has become
the main threat of the new century,” he said in the message.
“Unfortunately, experience shows that no country in the world has a
universal means for fighting this evil. It has already become clear
that only jointly can all progressive-minded forces resist this common
enemy,” he said.
“There can be no justification for the terror against peaceful
citizens, even if some try to motivate it by noble goals, and there
must be no mercy for terrorists,” Satanovsky said.
Russia’s chief rabbi Berl Lazar asked Moslems to pray on Saturday for
the recovery of those wounded in Beslan. “The killing of children is
an atrocity. The actions of the militants once again show the degree
to which these people have lost their human face, the ability to take
the situation adequately and reasonably,” he said.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 3, 2004, Friday
THE AIR FORCE WILL PREVENT TERRORIST ATTACKS
General of the Army Vladimir Mikhailov, Commander-in-Chief of the
Air Force, stated on Wednesday: “If terrorists skyjacked a jetliner
and tried to attack an important object we would make every effort
to stop this jetliner.”
The general said: “This requires a strong-willed decision.” He said
that issues linked with air terrorism are discussed by representatives
of the Air and Anti-Aircraft Force of the CIS. He noted: “We discuss
this problem at a meeting of the coordinating committee today. The
main task is to prevent such crimes.”
Representatives of the Armenian, Belarusian , Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz,
Russian, Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek and Ukrainian Air and Anti-Aircraft
Forces participate in the meeting.
Source: Interfax, September 1, 2004

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 3, 2004, Friday
THE STRENGTH IS IN THE TRUTH
SOURCE: Krasnaya Zvezda, August 31, 2004, p. 3
by Oleg Gorupai
The United Army Group of the Russian and Armenian Armed Forces ran a
tactical exercise at the testing site of the Training Center of the
Armenian Defense Ministry named after marshal of the Soviet Union
Bagramjan. The exercise included shooting practice elements. Armenia
was represented by servicemen of the 549th Separate Motorized
Infantry Regiment (Commander – Colonel Vaan Arsenjan), 523rd Separate
Armored Battalion, multiple rocker launcher battery of BM-21s, two
reconnaissance groups, company of sappers, special platoon, two SU-25
ground-attack aircraft, four MI-24 helicopters, and two MI-8
transport helicopters. Russia was represented by servicemen of the
123rd Motorized Infantry Regiment (Commander – Colonel Sergei
Khmelevsky), artillery brigade of 2S1 complexes (Gvozdika), artillery
battery of D-30s, multiple rocker launcher battery of BM-21s, and two
MIG-29s of the 102nd Military Base of the Russian Army Group in the
Caucasus quartered in Armenia. Combat organization and cooperation
was drilled. The exercise was commanded by Lieutenant General Mikhail
Grigorjan, Defense Minister of Armenia and United Army Group
Commander. Almost 3,000 servicemen were involved.
According to the legend, the enemy attacked in the Gyumri and
Kirovakan directions. Servicemen involved in the exercise were
expected to practice defensive action, counterattack, extermination
of the advanced units of the enemy, and attack back to the state
border.
Russian Ambassador to Armenia Anatoly Dryukov said shortly before the
exercise that it was not aimed against any third country but was
needed to practice defense action only. The statement was made
because of the speculations in newspapers that Russia was flexing its
muscles in the Caucasus, that all of the following were links in one
chain – deterioration of the military-political situation in Georgia,
command exercise of the Nagorno-Karabakh army, and tactical exercise
in Armenia. Defense Minister of Armenia Serzh Sarkisjan also
denounced the assumption. He said that it was a planned exercise, run
for the ninth time in approximately one and the same time of the
year, and pursuing no political motives. Sarkisjan said that the
tenth exercise of the series would take place next year and that
serious means and forces would be deployed in it to celebrate the
jubilee.
The strength of the Russian-Armenian cooperation is in the truth, not
in money. There is no need to corroborate the statement. At every
exercise run by the United Army Group, officers of foreign armies,
political scientists, and journalists have access to all information
that may interest them. It is possible nowadays to find in the media
all relevant information on the Armed Forces of Armenia, composition
of the Russian-Armenian United Army Group, volume and size of the
military aid Russia sends to its strategic partner. It is common
knowledge that the Armenian national army is up to 40,000 men strong,
and that about 300,000 men comprise the mobilizational resources.
Summing up the exercise, Sarkisjan said that all tasks were
performed. Alexander Studenikin, Commander of the Russian Army Group
in the Caucasus, is of the same opinion. He is convinced that units
and formations of the United Army Group can properly operate in the
hostilities.
Translated by A. Ignatkin

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 3, 2004, Friday
COST OF THE MATTER
SOURCE: Kommersant, August 31, 2004, p. 9
by Gennadi Sysoev
VLADIMIR PUTIN’S MEETING WITH RAOUL KHADZHIMBA: MOSCOW INDICATES THAT
IT CONSIDERS ABKHAZIA A ZONE OF ITS SPECIAL INTERESTS
No matter what official announcements may claim, President Vladimir
Putin did not meet with prime minister of Abkhazia and candidate for
president to discuss social position of veterans of World War II. The
meeting was instantly interpreted as Moscow’s support of Khadzhimba
running for president. The reasoning is simple: Abkhazia is a small
republic, the news that the premier met with the president of Russia
will spread immediately, and the population will know who to vote for
on October 3.
All of that is undeniably so. There is, however, more to the meeting
than meets the eye. Organizing it, official Moscow indicates that it
considers at least Abkhazia a zone of its special interest.
The road connecting Russia with Armenia, its major ally in the
Caucasus, runs through Abkhazia. Not far from Gudauta (Abkhazia)
there is the strategic airfield which specialists call unique:
aircraft taking off there are practically invisible to NATO radars in
Turkey. Krasnaya Polyana, the southern residence of the Russian
president is in Abkhazia, not far from the Psou River. Abkhazian
leaders regularly remind the Kremlin that if Tbilisi takes over, NATO
will immediately install its ELINT station on the Psou. Last but not
the least, there are financial considerations as well. Russia bought
a great deal of property in Abkhazia in the last several years, and
Georgian politicians’ statements on a redistribution of property in
Abkhazia make Moscow wary.
There is even more. Moscow needs to retain its clout with Georgia
because along with its strategic partnership with Armenia it will
ensure its clout with the Caucasus in general. And the Kremlin hopes
to retain its clout with Georgia through control over Abkhazia.
Formally, Moscow is unlikely to dispute territorial integrity of
Georgia, the country Abkhazia is officially a part of. That is why
Abkhazia is not going to become a part of Russia. Still, it is not
necessary. Sufficient that practically all population of Abkhazia are
citizens of Russia. From Moscow’s point of view, it permits it to
take care of Abkhazia.
Georgia may refuse to put up with it and even return to drawing
parallels between Abkhazia and Chechnya. Or may ask what its Defense
Minister Georgy Baramidze asked: why is it all right for Russia to
defend its borders but when Georgia is going the same thing it is
called aggression? Moscow has an answer to that: there are no
citizens of Georgia in Chechnya, and Abkhazians do not blow up
Georgian planes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Olympic gold medallist Massu eliminated in historic marathon
by Greg Heakes
Agence France Presse — English
September 3, 2004 Friday 3:30 AM GMT
NEW YORK Sept 2 — Olympic double gold medallist Nicolas Massu was
eliminated from the US Open on Thursday in a historic five-set marathon
with Sargis Sargsian of Armenia.
Sargsian fired 20 aces and won 184 of 337 points to beat Massu 6-7
(6/8), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
The match lasted five hours, nine minutes and is second longest on
record behind the 1992 men’s semi-final where Stefan Edberg beat
Michael Chang in five hours and 26 minutes.
The previous second-longest match was also in 1992 when Ivan Lendl
beat Boris Becker in five hours, one minute in the round of 16.
“So many things happened in that match,” Sargsian said. “It is just
amazing to come through.
“I wouldn’t put it on top of my list but it is in the top three. Now
I am just go to take my vitamins, get a massage and pray for rain.”
He has one day to rest before his third round match against France’s
Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Sargsian won the war of attrition but he paid for it as after four
hours on the court both players started to suffer from leg cramps.
“I couldn’t feel my legs,” Sargsian said of the end of the match.
Sargsian’s family and friends would have had to stay up to 4 a.m.
Armenian time to watch the entire match.
Massu came into the US Open after the best week of his career, having
won gold medals in singles and doubles at the Athens Games.
The Chilean lost his composure on several occasions, breaking his
racket in the first set.
He argued several times with chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, and vowed
to never play in front of Ramos again.
“I lost because of my mistake. But this umpire have not to umpire
anymore,” Massu said. “He is unbelievable. He is never going to umpire
me again.”

New U.S. ambassador takes over in Kazakhstan
Associated Press Worldstream
September 3, 2004 Friday 6:55 AM Eastern Time
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — A new U.S. ambassador has arrived in Kazakhstan
and assumed duties in the oil-rich Central Asian nation, the
U.S. Embassy said Friday.
John M. Ordway arrived Thursday in the Kazakh commercial center,
Almaty, where the U.S. Embassy is located, it said in a statement.
Ordway, a career diplomat, previously headed the U.S. diplomatic
mission in Armenia. He also served at the U.S. embassies in Russia
and Poland, and at the U.S. mission to NATO in Brussels, the statement
said.
Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic the size of Western Europe,
is Central Asia’s most economically developed nation.
It is the only country in the region that is contributing a military
contingent to the international force in Iraq.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress