Month: August 2008

NATURAL GAS SUPPLY FROM RUSSIA TO ARMENIA REDUCED

arminfo
2008-08-11 13:22:00

ArmInfo. Natural gas supply from Russia to Armenia has reduced a
little, the leader of press-service of CJSC "ArmRosgazprom" Shushan
Sardaryan told ArmInfo correspondent.

She also added that reduction is a little and it practically does
not affect consumption regimes. But she declined to answer for how
much gas supply reduced.

Meanwhile, as some Russian mass media reported, Georgian part "takes"
some part of natural gas destined for Armenia.

FLOW OF ARMENIAN TOURISTS TO ADZHARIA (GEORGIA) SAGGING SHARPLY

arminfo
8-08-11 11:37:00

ArmInfo. Flow of Armenians tourists to the most popular Georgian
resorts in Adzharia has sharply decreased though Yerevan-Batumi
train moves in conformity with the timetable, Press-Secretary of
Armenian Ministry of Transport and Communication Susanna Tonoyan told
ArmInfo. She said that yesterday the train delivered 300 passengers
from Batumi to Yerevan. In the meanwhile on 9 August (the train from
Armenia leaves on countable days) CJSC South -Caucasian Railroad
(subsidiary of Russian Railways) delivered only 21 to Batumi though
the train is designed for more than 200 seats.

In summer season the train is often fully loaded, S. Tonoyan said. She
underlined that Armenian citizens leave for Batumi also by cars and
buses via another highway Akhalkalaki-Ninotsminda-Khachuri-Batumi
passing by Gori town for security reason. However, road traffic
has considerably reduced as well since many refrain from resting in
Georgia after relevant call by the Armenian Foreign Ministry. In case
of necessity, S. Tonoyan said, the South-Caucasian Railroad is ready
to make additional Yerevan-Tbilisi run to deliver Armenian tourists
to the motherland.

To recall, many Armenian tourists expressed desire to return
to Armenia. In this connection the Armenian Embassy and Consulate
General in Georgia ensured safe return of 3500 Armenian tourists and
850 foreign citizens as of August 10.

NO VICTIMS AMONG CITIZENS OF ARMENIA REGISTERED IN GEORGIA AS OF 6:00PM ON AUGUST 10

arminfo
2008-08-11 10:02:00

ArmInfo. No victims among citizens of Armenia were registered in
Georgia as of 6:00pm on August 10.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry press-service reports Armenia keeps
assisting departure of foreign citizens from Georgia to Armenia. As
of 6:00pm on 10 August 130 citizens of USA, 180 citizens of Poland,
hundreds of citizens of other states were delivered to Armenia. Free
visas will be provided to the foreign citizens arriving from
Georgia. Moreover, at Zvartnots airport they will be exempted from
‘air tax’.

Armenian Foreign Ministry sent two diplomats to Consulate General in
Batumi for better coordination of the process of return of Armenians
citizens.

Their contacts are as follows: +995.95330454 and +995.99282324. As
of 10 August about 3500 citizens returned to Armenia from Georgia
with support of the Consulate General. About 850 foreign citizens
including diplomats and their families in Georgia arrived in Yerevan.

Hot line at the Armenian Foreign Ministry: 562543 and 544041
(internal 202).

ABOUT 850 FOREIGNERS LEAVE GEORGIA FOR ARMENIA

ARKA
Aug 11, 2008

YEREVAN, August 11. /ARKA/. About 850 foreign citizens have been
taken from Georgia to Armenia due to escalation of the conflict in
South Ossetia, the Press Service of Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.

By 18:00 Sunday, 130 U.S. citizens, 180 citizens of Poland and hundreds
of citizens of other countries crossed the Armenian-Georgian border,
says the report.

According to the press release, entry visas for foreigners arriving
to Armenia from Georgia are free and no "air fare" is charged for
taking a transit flight from Zvartnots Airport in Yerevan.

The Frontier and Customs services have been assigned to simplify
all the procedures and provide all the required support to foreign
citizens, the Ministry reported.

The country’s Foreign Ministry also reported that no Armenian citizens
had suffered from the events in Georgia by the time of the report
(18:00 Sunday). Armenian Embassy to Georgia and the country’s General
Consulate in Batumi continue their consistent efforts to help Armenian
citizens return home, the report says.

Over 3,500 Armenian citizens had already returned home by Sunday
morning, including diplomats accredited in Georgia and their
families.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY KEEPS ASSISTING DEPARTURE OF ARMENIAN CITIZENS FROM GEORGIA

arminfo
2008-08-11 13:00:00

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Ministry keeps assisting citizens of Armenia
to return from Georgia.

Armenian Foreign Ministry Department for Information and Press reports
that about 7500 citizens of Armenia were delivered to Armenia from
Georgia as of 10:00am on 11 August. Due to assistance of relevant
structures, about 2000 foreign citizens including diplomats and
employees of international organizations arrived in Armenia in a
facilitated regime.

No victims were registered among citizens of Armenia in Georgia as
of 10:00am on 11 August.

Twenty-four hour Hot Line service at the Foreign Ministry receives
over thousands of calls from Armenia and abroad, the source reports.

FOREIGN MINISTRY OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CALLING TO CEASE BLOODSHED IN ZONE OF GEORGIAN-OSSETIAN CONFLICT

ARKA
Aug 11, 2008

STEPANAKERT, August 11. /ARKA/. The Foreign Ministry of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) is calling to cease the bloodshed in
the zone of Georgian-Ossetian conflict.

"We urge the sides to the conflict, all the involved states
and international organizations to make every possible effort to
immediately stop the bloodshed. Use of force is unpromising in settling
this kind of problems," says the statement of the NKR Foreign Ministry.

The escalation of the situation in the zone of Georgian-Ossetian
conflict raises serious concerns in Nagorno-Karabkh Republic, the
document says. The military operations that have already led to
numerous deaths are fraught with unpredictable consequences for the
entire region, says the statement.

NKR’s Foreign Ministry expressed hope that the international community
will make every effort to reestablish the peace and stability and to
resume the negotiations between Georgia and South Ossetia.

ARMENIA CAN FUND CONSTRUCTION OF IRAN-ARMENIA RAILROAD FROM STATE BUDGET

ARKA
Aug 11, 2008

YEREVAN, August 11. /ARKA/. Armenia can finance the construction of
the railroad connecting the country with Iran out of its state budget
receipts, member of Bureau of ARF Dashnaktsutiun, the Head of ARFD
parliament group Vahan Hovhannisyan said.

"We have to find $1bln Drams for construction of the road," he told
a press conference.

According to him, the new railroad will help avoid Armenia’s transport
dependence on Georgia that is the only way connecting the country
with the outer world now.

Earlier, Armenian Minister of Transport and Communication Gurgen
Sargsyan reported that country’s President instructed to set up a
target commission to study the issue of construction of Armenia-Iran
railroad.

The Commission is to select the best project out of the three
available projects on construction of the railroad. According to the
preliminary estimates, the most advantageous one is Gagarin Station –
Gavar – Martuni – Jermuk route that is the shortest way to get also
to Vanadzor of Armenia and then to Georgia.

Annual Cost Of Minimum Food Basket 282,880.7 Amd In Armenia In Q2 2008

YEREVAN, August 8. /ARKA/. The annual cost of minimum food basket
reached 282,880.7 AMD (about $921.1 at the nominal average exchange
rate) in Armenia in the 2nd quarter of 2008, the monthly cost thus
being 23,573.4 AMD (about $76.8).

The RA Statistical Service reports that the calculations are based on
the average prices recorded in the 2nd quarter of 2008.

In the 2nd quarter of 2008, the cost of minimum food basket decreased
by 8,480.7 AMD or 2.9% as compared with the 1st quarter, and by 1,551.7
AMD or by 0.54% as compared with the corresponding period last year.

The annual coast of minimum consumer basket reached 438,465 AMD
($1,427.7) (in terms of actual prices in the 2nd quarter of 2008), the
monthly cost being 36,538.8 AMD ($119). Thus, a 2.9% quarterly
decrease, and a 0.54% annual monthly decrease, in the cost of the
minimum consumer basket were recorded.

The annual per capita cost of baked goods reached 57,231.4 AMD (the
cost of bread being 33,725.2 AMD, with the annual consumption totaling
91.3kg). The annual cost of meat reached 58,655.5 AMD (36.5kg), dairy
products 56,243 AMD, including milk (73 liters a year) 21,870 AMD,
animal fat (7.3kg) 17,339.7 AMD, cheese (9.1kg) 11,693.5 AMD. The
annual cost of potatoes reached 15,000.6 AMD (91.3kg), of vegetables
(cabbage, onions) (109.5kg) 21,286.8 AMD, of fruit, particularly
apples, 27,601.3 AMD, of sugar (18.3kg) 4,448.7 AMD, of eggs (182.5
eggs) 10,566.8 AMD, of vegetable oil (7.3kg) 7,073.7 AMD, of margarine
(3.7 kg) 3,547.9 AMD and of fish (11kg) 21,224.5 AMD.

The data are calculated for a food basket, with its composition and
caloric content approved by the RA Ministry of Health. On the other
hand, the composition and caloric content of the food basket calculated
by the methods of the World Bank (based on a survey of 6,816 households
conducted from April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005) is different. According
to the WB, the monthly cost of food basket is 20,599.7 AMD ($67.1) and
that of minimum consumer basket 31,929.6 AMD ($104).

The minimum monthly wages in Armenia (25,000 AMD or $81.4 at an average
exchange rate in the 2nd quarter of 2008) is equal to 68.4% of the cost
of minimum consumer basket, 106.1% of the cost of the minimum food
basket (calculated by the RA Ministry of Health) and to 28.86% of the
average monthly wages (86,615 AMD).

In January-June 2008, the average monthly wages were equal to 237.4% of
the cost of the minimum consumer basket.

In the first half of 2008, per capita GDP reached 410,353 AMD or
$1,334, with the average nominal wages in June being 89,547 ($294).

In the 1st half of 2008, 34.1% of Armenia’s population were engaged in
the economic sector (38.3% males and 30.2% females). In June 2008, 6.4%
unemployment was recorded in Armenia.20On July 1, 2008, Armenia’s
resident population was 3,231,900 people. `0′

Moscow on attack as desperate Georgian forces sue for peace

The Times/UK
August 11, 2008

Tony Halpin in Gori Kevin O’Flynn in Moscow and James Bone in New York

Georgia sued for peace with Russia yesterday but Moscow showed little
sign of ending its military campaign over South Ossetia.

President Saakashvili appealed for international support as he ordered
troops to pull out of the region, called an immediate ceasefire and
urged Russia to begin talks to end hostilities.

In a televised address to the nation last night, the besieged leader
said that the `existence of the Georgian state is under threat’.

Russia continued its offensive in a day of intensifying military
action, while Georgia faced the threat of a second front opening up in
its other breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Times Archive, 1924: The revolt in Georgia
The movement against the Bolshevists is considered to be more than a
mere rising. It is considered to be a war of independence

President Medvedev, in Moscow, accused the Georgian leadership of
genocide as Russian troops and tanks seized full control of the region.
There was panic in the Georgian city of Gori, 17 miles (27km) from the
border, last night as thousands of people fled, convinced that a
Russian invasion was imminent.

Russian aircraft twice bombed a military airfield eight miles from the
Georgian capital Tbilisi, even after Mr Saakashvili made his20offer of a
ceasefire. One Russian bomb exploded near the capital’s civilian
airport hours before Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister,
arrived on an EU peace mission. France holds the EU presidency, and has
cordial ties with Georgia.

America, which trains the Georgian Army, condemned Russia’s `dangerous
and disproportionate actions’ and warned the Kremlin that any further
military escalation would have a `significant long-term impact’ on
relations.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy to the United Nations, accused Russia of
targeting civilians and waging a campaign of terror. His Russian
counterpart, Vitali Churkin, said: `This is completely unacceptable,
especially from the lips of a representative of a country whose actions
we are aware of in Iraq, Afghanistan and Serbia.’

The US threatened last night to force a vote at the UN on a resolution
calling for an immediate ceasefire in Georgia despite the threat of a
Russia veto. `The world needs to know that everyone is united. Russia
is on the wrong side,’ Mr Khalilzad said.

Russia, a veto-bearing permanent member of the 15-nation council, said
that a ceasefire call was not enough and demanded that Georgia pledge
to renounce the use of force.

Russia confirmed that it had received Mr Saakashvili’s offer of a
ceasefire, but said that Georgian troops were continuing to shell South
Ossetia. Meanwhile, Georgia claimed that Russia had opened a second
front in its military offensive in Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast.

Moscow denied involvement, but Sergei Bagapsh, the Abkhaz President,
said that he had sent 1,000 troops to force Georgian soldiers out of
the Kodori Gorge, the only remaining part of the region not under
separatist control. Russian television, however, reported that Russian
troops were in Abkhazia and moving toward the Georgian border. Georgia
accused Moscow of landing 4,000 troops in Abkhazia by ship after Russia
sent its navy to the Black Sea coast. The ships later docked at a
Russian port, though only after Ukraine gave warning that it would bar
any vessels engaged in action against Georgia from returning to the
Black Sea Fleet’s home in Sevastopol.

Russian jets bombed Gori, the Black Sea port of Poti and the airfield
near Tbilisi, all outside the conflict zone in South Ossetia. Mr
Saakashvili said that Russia planned to take over the whole of Georgia
because it wanted `control over energy routes from Central Asia and the
Caspian Sea’. Russia claimed that it had sunk a Georgian cruiser in the
Black Sea.

The West regards Georgia as a vital conduit for supplies of energy from
Central Asia through pipelines that bypass Russia. The governments of
Britain, the US, Germany, Italy, Poland and Canada have advised their
citizens living in Georgia to seek safety in Armenia.

Italy evacuating citizens from Georgia
The Associated Press
August 10, 2008

ROME: Italy evacuated most of its citizens in Georgia to neighboring
Armenia on Sunday because of hostilities between Georgia and Russia
over the separatist region of South Ossetia, the Foreign Ministry said.

Buses carrying 134 people, including about 20 citizens from other EU
countries, left Tbilisi for an airport in Gyumri, Armenia, around 150
kilometers (90 miles) south of the Georgian capital, said Fabrizio
Romano, head of the crisis unit at the ministry.

Two Italian military C130 planes will fly the evacuees to Rome later
Sunday, he said. Other Italians, most of them vacationing in the
southern Black Sea city of Batumi, were making their way on their own
to Turkey, which also borders Georgia.

Georgia, meanwhile, agreed to a cease-fire and expressed its readiness
to start negotiations with Russia. But Moscow said Georgian troops
weren’t observing the cease-fire pledge yet, the Interfax news agency
reported.

Earlier, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini had called for an
immediate cease-fire in the conflict, which erupted between Georgia and
Russia after Tbilisi launched an offensive to retake the breakaway
province.

Today in Europe
Russia pursues retreating Georgian troopsFor U.S., bigger issues
require Russian helpThe Sunday paper: A British institution in search
of a mission Russia expanded its bombing blitz Sunday, targeting Tbilisi
for the first time and driving Georgian troops out of South Ossetia’s
provincial capital, Tskhinvali, with heavy shelling.

In an interview with TV channel SKY TG 24, Frattini said Georgia’s
territorial integrity must be respected, but added that Italy "opposes
the use of weapons to defend territorial integrity."

He called on the European Union to come up with a common and "balanced"
position on the crisis, adding that Premier Silvio Berlusconi had
discussed the issue with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a
telephone call.

"Italy is telling both sides to stop, to end the acts of hostility and
the violence and worry about the population of South Ossetia, which has
already suffered a lot," Frattini said.

Around 50 protesters, meanwhile, marched through the streets of
downtown Rome to Parliament in a pro-Georgia demonstration. They
denounced Russia, chanting slogans and carrying banners that read "Stop
bombing in Georgia" and "Europe, stop Russia."