Month: September 2013

Interfax, Russia
Sept 13 2013

Armenia to sell Russia defective cassettes with fresh nuclear fuel

YEREVAN. Sept 13

Armenia will sell Russia seven cassettes with fresh nuclear fuel that
have technical defects, Armenian Energy and Natural Resources Minister
Armen Movsisyan said at a government meeting on Friday.

He said three of these cassettes were delivered to the Armenian
Nuclear Power Plant in 1979 and four were delivered in 1987. But they
could not be used due to the defects. Storing the cassettes at the NPP
is problematic because they cannot be transferred to the spent nuclear
fuel repository.

“We tried repeatedly to return the cassettes to the manufacturer, but
did not get agreement. And only now we received agreement from the
Russian side to accept the cassettes for a certain sum,” Movsisian
said.

Armenia has agreed to sell the nuclear materials to Russia for $5,000
per kilogram, he said.

The minister said that a plane would arrive in Armenia on Sunday with
fresh nuclear fuel for the Armenian NPP, and will then return the
seven cassettes to the manufacturer.

In order to sell the cassettes, the government decided on Friday to
grant state company CJSC Armenia NPP a license to export nuclear
materials.

Analysts estimate the Armenian NPP uses 90-100 nuclear fuel cassettes
per year that are bought from Russian nuclear fuel company TVEL.

The Armenian NPP has two Russian-designed VVER-440generating units
combined capacity of 815 MW. The first reactor came on line in 1876
and the second in 1980. The plant was mothballed in 1989 for political
reasons, but in early 1995 the country brought the second unit, with
capacity of 404 MW, back on line and it is the only one now operating.
The NPP generates about 45% of Armenia’s electricity.

Vp of

From: Baghdasarian

Interfax, Russia
Sept 13 2013

Armenia may co-found Eurasian Economic Union – EEC minister

MINSK. Sept 13

Armenia’s declaration of the need to join the Customs Union is a
serious political step, Eurasian Economic Commission Trade Minister
Andrei Slepnyov said, adding that participation of Armenia in the
establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union was quite possible.

“This statement is a very serious political step of Armenia; this is
also a strategic choice,” he told reporters in Minsk on Friday.

“The full membership of Armenia in the Customs Union will help restore
the Armenian economy, the condition of which is not very favorable at
present,” the minister said. “I am confident that the Armenian entry
into the Customs Union is a key step towards the restoration of the
country’s economic potential,” Slepnyov said.

Speaking of the execution of the Armenian plan to join the Customs
Union, the minister predicted “a number of problems, which might not
be easy to resolve, concerning the unification of laws and
harmonization of international commitments.”

“As to the timeframe, we should aim at Armenia becoming a co-founder
of the Eurasian Economic Union. It is quite realistic to complete its
accession to the Customs Union within slightly more than a year,”
Slepnyov said.

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Interfax, Russia
Sept 13 2013

Azerbaijan may forgive foreigners who illegally visited occupied Azeri
land – Foreign Ministry

BAKU. Sept 13 (Interfax) -The foreigners who were declared personae
non grata in Azerbaijan for unauthorized visits to the occupied
Nagorny Karabakh territory may be removed from the blacklist if they
apologize to Azerbaijan, Azeri Foreign Ministry press officer Elman
Abdullayev told a briefing on Friday.

“A list of people declared personae non grata in Azerbaijan has
recently been made. The people on this list have expressed concerns
that they will never be able to visit Azerbaijan again. In this
regard, some of them have contacted the Azeri Foreign Ministry,”
Abdullayev said.

“In their reports, those people said they were deceived when they
visited Nagorny Karabakh,” he said.

Students from John Hopkins University have asked to be removed from
the blacklist, saying they were misled by Armenia, he said.

“Among the people on the list are Russian State Duma deputy Alexei
Mitrofanov, James Brooke, the head of the Voice of America bureau for
Russia, and others, including politicians, students, and journalists.
The main thing is that they understand that the situation is serious
and are contacting the Azeri authorities,” Abdullayev said.

Abdullayev said some countries arrest people who violate their
borders, put them on international most wanted persons list, and try
them in a court of law.

“There were cases when citizens who accidentally violated the border
were arrested. After the list of personae non grata was made, the
Azeri Foreign Ministry started receiving requests for permission to
visit the occupied territories. These people are mainly journalists,”
Abdullayev said.

Responding to a question from Interfax on the number of people on the
blacklist, Abdullayev said there are 335 people on the list, but
people will be removed from it after their requests are considered.

Commenting on the issue of companies investing in the occupied Azeri
territories, Abdullayev reiterated that such companies were created by
the Armenian lobby.

“It have been proved by the general amount of alleged investment in
these territories by world-famous brands. Karabakh can only develop as
part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Our Armenian citizens who live in
those territories also understand that very well,” he said.

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From: Baghdasarian

Agence France Presse — English
September 13, 2013 Friday 4:42 PM GMT

Armenia to extend life of ageing nuclear plant

YEREVAN, Sept 13 2013

Armenia said Friday it would extend the life of its ageing Metsamor
nuclear power plant, despite safety concerns over the Soviet-era
facility in an active seismic zone.

“The atomic power station will operate until 2026,” Armenia’s energy
minister Armen Movsisyan told journalists.

Earlier this month, President Serzh Sarkisian reached an agreement
with Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom to help keep the plant
running beyond its original closing date of 2016.

Last year, Armenia had postponed the plant’s closure until 2020.

The European Union has repeatedly called for the plant to be closed
down, arguing that it poses a threat to the region.

Armenian authorities say that the plant has undergone considerable
renovations over the past decade and has been passed fit by the
International Atomic Energy Agency.

Built in the 1970s, the Metsamor plant is located in one of the most
earthquake-prone regions on the planet, some 30 kilometres (19 miles)
west of Yerevan.

The facility — which provides the tiny Caucasus nation with around 40
percent of its power — was closed for around seven years following a
devastating earthquake in 1988.

Movsisyan said that a new facility would be built over the next decade
to eventually replace the Metsamor plant.

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
Sept 13 2013

Obama calls on Armenia to get negotiations on Karabakh out of deadlock

LENGTH: 121 words

DATELINE: YEREVAN. Sept 13

U.S. President Barack Obama believes it is now time to settle the
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In his letter to his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan, Obama called
on him to take advantage of opportunities for direct dialogue with
Azerbaijan and the possibilities of the co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk
Group to get the negotiation process out of a deadlock in the next few
months.

The general mutual concessions have been specified and it is now time
to make more proactive efforts to bring peace to the region, Obama
said in his letter, which was passed to Sargsyan by James Warlick, the
U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The text of the letter was released by the Armenian presidential press
service on Thursday.

ENP Newswire
September 13, 2013 Friday

-Prometey-Support the program of reintroduction of the Caucasian Red
Deer in Armenia

ENP Newswire – 13 September 2013

Release date- 12092013 – On September 11, 2013, a joint press
conference took place with the representatives of Prometey Bank, WWF
(World Wide Fund for Nature Armenia Branch), the Ministry of Nature
Protection of RA and Orange Armenia, about the program of
reintroduction of the Caucasian Red Deer in Armenia.

The main goal of the project is to create a renewable group of the
mentioned species in ‘Dilijan’ National Park. The project is scheduled
to start at the end of September, 2013.

During the conference, each participant presented his contribution to
the project. The supporters of the program are Prometey Bank, WWF
Germany and Orange Armenia.

Giving special importance to protection of wild nature and endangered
species, the Bank has dedicated the design of the bank’s annual report
of 2012 and corporate calendar of 2014 to the protection of endangered
species, particularly pointing out the importance of the Red Deer
reintroduction project. With the aim to support the project the Bank
has opened a bank account, to which each person can donate any amount
of money having their contribution in Caucasian Red Deer project.

The annual reports and the calendars will be distributed among the
Bank’s customers, shareholders, local and foreign partners and other
private and public institutions.

You, as a part of the society can also contribute to nature
conservation in Armenia by making donation to the following account:

Bank: ‘Prometey Bank’ LLC

Beneficiary: World Wide Fund for Nature Armenian Branch

Acc. No. (AMD): 1660002306300100

States News Service
September 13, 2013 Friday

EU NOT ABANDONING ARMENIA

PRAGUE, Czech Republic

The following information was released by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty:

By RFE/RL’s Armenian Service

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele says Brussels is still eager
to pursue deeper ties with Yerevan even if Armenia goes ahead with
plans to join a Russian-led Customs Union.

In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Fuele
restated the EU position that Armenia could not sign association and
free trade agreements with the European Union while also belonging to
the Customs union.

He was speaking on September 13 in Yerevan after an informal meeting
of the foreign ministers of the EU’s Eastern Partnership member
states.

“The Association Treaty is no longer on the table because of Armenia’s
decision. So let’s talk about their ambitions, and their vision for
another way to put the relationship higher, including a new legal
framework for our relationship,” Fuele said.

Expectations had originally been high that Armenia would move ahead
with the EU trade agreements at the Eastern Partnership summit in
Vilnius in November.

But those hopes were dashed when Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian,
in a surprise move, announced last week that he wanted his country to
join the Russia-led Customs Union, which currently includes Belarus
and Kazakhstan.

Fuele confirmed that no deals will now be signed with Armenia in
Vilnius. But he said Brussels was not abandoning Armenia, including
civil society there.

“I talked today also with civil society groups, the National Platform,
and I made it very clear that, the fact that Armenia is turning from
the Association Agreement to the Customs Union does not mean that the
European agenda, European values, and European principles, will
disappear. It does not mean that, what the civil society has achieved
to promote the European agenda, and fundamental rights, that that will
disappear. We will be strongly represented here in Armenia and
supporting civil society,” Fuele explained

Fuele also said Russia had nothing to fear from the EU’s Eastern
Partnership program.

“I am saying very clearly that association agreements are good for our
partners, and are good for the neighbors of our partners. I’m saying
clearly that association agreements are substantive, and a very clear
contribution of the European Union member states to the creation, in
the future, of a free trade union from Lisbon to Vladivostok,” Fuele
stated.

But Fuele also warned Russia against pressuring other Eastern
Partnership members into joining the Customs Union or the proposed
Eurasian Union rather than sign agreements with the EU.

“The partners, we assured that if they become the subject of undue
pressure because of their exercising the free choice, they can count
on the solidarity [of the EU]. Solidarity is not an empty word in the
European Union,” Fuele said.

The six member states of the EU’s Eastern Partnership are Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Interfax, Russia
Sept 13 2013

U.S. embassy in Yerevan demands punishment for people who beat up
civil activists

YEREVAN. Sept 13

The U.S. Embassy in Armenia issued a statement in Yerevan on Thursday
condemning the attacks on civil activists, including U.S. citizens,
which began on August 22, and calling on the Armenian authorities to
protect freedom of expression in the country.

The statement says that two activists were beaten during the most
recent attack, which took place on September 5. Activists are being
followed and threatened, the document says.

The U.S. embassy called on the Armenian government to condemn these
attacks, conduct investigations, and punish the culprits.

Toronto Sun, Canada
Sept 14 2013

U.S., Russia agreement on Syria a first step, says Baird

By Daniel Proussalidis ,Parliamentary Bureau

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird isn’t ready to celebrate, despite
news on Saturday that Washington and Moscow had reached a deal to find
and destroy Syrian chemical weapons.

“We welcome today’s developments in Geneva as a first step,” said
Baird in a statement, issued while visiting Turkey.

The U.S. and Russia have agreed on a plan to see Syria to declare its
stockpiles of chemical weapons within a week and have the arsenal
destroyed by mid-2014.

Baird said he’d like to see more done to deter Syrian President Bashar
Assad from using chemical weapons.

“The Assad regime has proven time and time again that it cannot be
trusted,” he said.

While in Turkey, Baird announced a symbolic upgrade of Canada’s
Istanbul consulate to a consulate general.

The move comes despite Ankara’s grumbling about Canada’s recognition
of the systematic killings of Armenians in Turkey early in the 20th
century as “genocide.”

Baird will also visit Algeria before returning to Canada.

New Europe
Sept 14 2013

MEPs urge Russia to lessen pressure on ex-Soviet republics

15/09/2013 – 12:39am

STRASBOURG – MEPs debated the pressure that has been placed by Russia
on countries to the east of the EU not to sign up to EU agreements at
the forthcoming Vilnius summit. On 12 September, they passed a
resolution saying that Moscow must respect the right of the EU’s
eastern neighbours to choose whether to enter into association
agreements with Brussels.

For example, Russia must refrain from exerting pressure, such as its
recent trade sanctions against Ukraine and Moldova and threats to
Armenia, to dissuade them from signing or initialling deals with the
EU at this November’s Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, the text
added.

The resolution firmly rejects the idea that the EU’s and Russia’s
relations with Eastern Partnership countries can be treated as a
`zero-sum game’. Instead of using the region’s frozen conflicts in its
geopolitical and economic interests, Russia should co-operate and
contribute constructively to the region’s economic and political
stability, the text added.

MEPs also encourage the Eastern partnership countries to pursue
preparations for the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit and `not
succumb to pressure’ from Russia. They reaffirm their strongest
support for initialling or signing the agreements at the Vilnius
Summit with those Eastern Partnership countries “which are ready and
willing to do so”.

MEP Pawel Kowal chaired the parliament’s delegation for relations with
Ukraine. At the debate on 11 September, EU Commissioner for
Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fuele criticised Russia
for trying to block closer co-operation between the EU and members of
its Eastern Partnership. `Let me be clear: the development of the
Eurasian Economic Union project must respect our partners’ sovereign
decisions. Any threats from Russia linked to the possible signing of
agreements with the European Union are unacceptable. This applies to
all forms of pressure, including: the possible misuse of energy
pricing; artificial trade obstacles such as import bans of dubious WTO
compatibility and cumbersome customs procedures; military cooperation
and security guarantees: and the instrumentalisation of protracted
conflicts,’ Fuele said.

`This is not how international relations should function on our
continent in the twenty-first century. Such actions clearly breach the
principles to which all European states have subscribed. In the
Helsinki Principles of the OSCE we have committed to respect each
country’s `right freely to define and conduct as it wishes its
relations with other States in accordance with international law’. The
European Union will support and stand by those who are subject to
undue pressures,’ the Commissioner said.

`Let me emphasise that AA/DCFTAs are not conceived at Russia’s
expense. On the contrary, Russia will also benefit greatly from the
integration of the Eastern Partnership countries into the wider
European economy. Our vision is that these agreements should
contribute in the long term to the eventual creation of a common
economic space from Lisbon to Vladivostok, based on WTO rules,’ Fuele
said.

`So we encourage our partners to deepen their ties with Russia, as we
do ourselves, but in a way which is compatible with AA/DCFTA
obligations. The European Union is ready to work with its neighbours
to find ways to promote greater regulatory convergence between the EU
and members of the Customs Union. The last thing we want to see is a
protectionist wall cutting our continent in two. In today’s
ever-more-competitive global economy, we cannot afford to waste our
efforts on a regional geopolitical rivalry,’ the Commissioner said.

German MEP Elmar Brok, the chairman of the European Parliament
Committee on Foreign Affairs, told the debate that it is not
acceptable when a country like Russia uses energy pricing as a tool in
order to block the free choice of a country.

Kiev’s hopes of signing a free-trade pact and other agreements with
the EU at the Vilnius summit have caused concern in Moscow. Russia,
which would like control of Ukraine’s gas pipeline network, has used
the promise of much cheaper gas to try to coax Kiev into the Customs
Union, which was set up in 2010 and offers tariff-free trade between
members.

In August, Russia sounded a warning shot to Ukraine, conducting extra
customs checks on Ukrainian imports over several days.