Month: February 2021

 16:44,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. The work in the direction of repatriating Armenian captives is proceeding on a daily basis, and so far Azerbaijan has returned 69 persons who were held captive, Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan’s Office said in response to an inquiry from ARMENPRESS.

“The process of returning captives is of constant and continuous nature. The work in the direction of repatriating Armenian captives is proceeding on a daily basis, and so far Azerbaijan returned 69 persons who were held captive,” it said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:06,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan paid a working visit to the third military formation on February 9, the defense ministry told Armenpress.

The Chief of the General Staff held a consultation there which was attended by the commanders of the military units, their deputies and others.

Onik Gasparyan was reported on the existing problems, the border situation and the process of works aimed at raising the combat preparedness level. He gave respective tasks over the organization of future service and solution of the existing problems.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 15:06,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan received today Ambassador of Sweden to Armenia Patrik Svensson, the deputy PM’s Office told Armenpress.

The deputy PM congratulated the Ambassador on the start of his diplomatic mission in Armenia, wishing success for the benefit of the development of the Armenian-Swedish relations.

The Swedish Ambassador thanked the deputy PM for the welcome and stated that the accreditation of Sweden’s resident ambassador to Armenia opens new opportunities for the expansion and deepening of the cooperation between the two countries.

Avinyan touched upon the ongoing democratic reforms in Armenia and expressed gratitude for the assistance provided by Sweden.

Further development of Armenia’s relations with the European Union was discussed at the meeting.

The sides discussed security issues, including the post-war situation in Artsakh, the process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and the necessity of the return of the Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan.

Deputy PM Avinyan also introduced the process of economic reforms in Armenia, highlighting the importance of the Economic Response Program approved by the government last week. In this regard he highlighted the active dialogue with Sweden in terms of attracting new investments, developing the cooperation in science, innovation and high tech industries.

The sides also discussed the prospects of deepening the partnership in the healthcare sector.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 13:16,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Rudenko says the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs should continue, as, he adds, it had a major investment in the development of base principles for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

“Most of these principles have been reflected in the 2020 November 9 statement”, he said in an interview to TASS, adding that the talk is about the return of refugees, leaving a corridor connecting Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, ensuring security, the peacekeeping missing, the unblocking of economic and transportation communication of the region.

Mr. Rudenko noted that achieving a political settlement to the conflict is a relevant issue, which has been put on the Minsk Group Co-Chairs according to the OSCE summit decision (1994) in Budapest. “The Co-Chairmanship has a strong international support and can be useful in the development of mutually acceptable approaches and further actions, including in the status-related issues. However, cautiously, without hurry, when the time comes”, he said.

The Russian deputy FM added that now the OSCE Minsk Group, the Co-Chairs can show activeness in terms of strengthening trust measures between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. According to him, the dialogue between civil societies will contribute to the overall stabilization of the situation in the region and the creation of preconditions for future actions through political means.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 13:13,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Russia confirmed 14,494 COVID-19 cases over the past day and the total case tally reached 4,012,710, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.

For the first time since October 17 the daily case tally was below 15,000. In relative terms the growth rate in new cases stood at 0.36%.

Moscow confirmed 1,441 COVID-19 cases in the past day. 

Currently, 418,115 people are undergoing treatment in Russia.

 12:13,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Vagharshak Harutyunyan received on February 10 Commander of the Russian peacekeeping troops who are deployed in Nagorno Karabakh, Lieutenant-General Rustam Muradov, the ministry told Armenpress.

Vagharshak Harutyunyan thanked Lieutenant-General Rustam Muradov for his active role in the exchange process of prisoners of war, as well as for assisting the search operations for missing in action, highlighting the efficiency of the operation of the Russian peacekeeping forces.

During the meeting the Armenian defense minister also touched upon a number of issues of the mutual partnership and presented his views to Mr. Muradov in this context. He emphasized the necessity to continue the current steps aimed at fulfilling the agreements reached.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 12:08,

STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. The rescuers of Artsakh have resumed today the search operations for the bodies of the dead servicemen, the missing in action in the territories which have come under the Azerbaijani control, the official of the State Emergency Service of Artsakh told Armenpress.

“Today the search operations will be carried out in Varanda (Fizuli). In the past two days the search operations have been suspended due to the shifts in the Russian and the Azerbaijani armed forces”, the official said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 11:10,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. 196 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 168,496, the ministry of healthcare said today.

236 more patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 160,405.

4 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 3130.

2574 tests were conducted in the past one day.

The number of active cases is 4175.

The number of people who had been infected with COVID-19 but died from other disease has reached 786 (2 new such cases).

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 10:30,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian side handed over 1 captive to Azerbaijan in the latest prisoner exchange, the Commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh Lt. General Rustam Muradov said.

“A new exchange of prisoners took place,” the general told reporters. “As a result of the implemented work, 1 captive was taken to Baku and 5 captives were returned to Yerevan.”

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 10:28,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. The specialists of the International Mine Action Center of the Russian defense ministry continue demining works in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the Russian defense ministry reports.

The engineering units of the Russian peacekeeping forces have already cleared nearly 1242,3 hectares of land, 398,8 km long roads. 24,227 explosive devices were found and neutralized.

In the course of demining and clearing the territory of explosive objects in Nagorno Karabakh, Russian peacekeepers use modern robotic systems.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan