ArmInfo.The Swedish government has withdrawn its decision to finance a Swedish- Azerbaijani company that organized all-inclusive tours to Azerbaijan last year.
As Swedish journalist Rasmus Canback wrote on his Twitter page, the company sued the Swedish government in connection with the termination of subsidies, but the Swedish court declared Azerbaijan an anti-democratic state and rejected the company's complaint.
ArmInfo. The tripartite commission on unblocking transport and economic communications will meet on June 3 in Moscow. Today, June 2, Armenian co-chairman of the commission on delimitation and security of the borders between the RA and the AR, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, in an interview with journalists, avoided answering the question whether he excludes that Artsakh may be part of Azerbaijan in any status.
" Such issues are not discussed in these negotiations at all," he said.
Earlier, Mher Grigoryan stated that the agenda of the meeting includes issues related to the implementation of the agreements set out in paragraph 9 of the tripartite statement of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan dated November 9, 2020 and the statement dated January 11, 2021. On January 11, 2021, during a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, an agreement was reached in Moscow to unblock regional communications. To this end, the parties decided to establish a working group at the level of vice-premiers of the three countries, which will focus on establishing transport and economic ties in the region. On May 18 this year, during the briefing, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the Russian side highly appreciates the activities of the tripartite working group of deputy prime ministers to unblock transport and economic ties in the South Caucasus. The last time the working group met was in December 2021. As regards the border delimitation commission chaired by the vice-premiers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the first meeting of the body was held on May 24 at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which followed the meeting of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which was mediated by the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, in Brussels on May 22. On May 25, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko announced that the next meeting would take place next week in Moscow.
ArmInfo.Head of the General Department of Defense Policy and International Cooperation of Armenia Levon Ayvazyan received the delegation led by the Head of the Regional Military Cooperation Directorate of the US European Command, Colonel Jeffrey Wright.
According to the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry, during the meeting the issues of the Armenian-American cooperation in the field of defense were discussed. The parties confirmed their readiness to develop cooperation in the field of military education, military medicine, peacekeeping and other areas.
Issues of regional security were also discussed.
ArmInfo.We continue to attach great importance to ensuring the security and rights of the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, and this is the basis on which the status of the republic should be determined. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan stated this to journalists during a briefing on June 2.
"We are sure that it is rights and security that will determine the status, and we will continue to work in this direction. We are convinced that these are the important areas, working on which we will have results>, he said. Answering a question regarding the next meeting of the Commission on the delimitation and demarcation of the border, the Secretary of the Security Council noted that the date has not been set yet. At the same time, he stressed that the date of the meeting, at which further actions will be discussed, will be announced by the office of Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan.
ArmInfo.rmenia has amended the agreement with the United States in the field of biological safety. On June 2, the Government of the Republic of Armenia approved the signing of the protocol to the agreement "On cooperation in the prevention of the dissemination of technologies, pathogens and knowledge that can be used in the development of biological weapons", signed in September 2010.
<The purpose of the agreement is to promote effective regulated cooperation between the parties in this area. According to paragraph 5, Article 4 of the Agreement, the Armenian side undertakes to transfer to the US Department of Defense the required samples of dangerous pathogens that are collected in Armenia for preventive, military and peaceful purposes. The agreement also provided for the transfer of epidemiological data>, the document says. It is noted that, given the forthcoming adoption of the Comprehensive Law on Biosafety and Biosecurity, which regulates the field of biological safety and clearly establishes the absence of any obligations on the state to transfer pathogen samples to any country, and also based on the need to ensure a balanced policy with partners in the field of biological security, it is proposed to amend paragraph 5 of Article IV accordingly. "It should be noted that this is in line with the foreign policy of the Republic of Armenia and the international obligations assumed," the conclusion says.
ArmInfo.On June 2, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan received a delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense of Greece Nicholas Hardalias.
As reported by the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry, Suren Papikyan highly assessed the current level of the Armenian-Greek cooperation in the defense sphere and emphasized the need to develop cooperation in the military- technical direction.
Nicholas Hardalias confirmed the readiness of the Greek side to develop cooperation and noted that warm, friendly relations between the two countries oblige to further deepen cooperation in order to counter the existing challenges. During the meeting, issues of regional security were also discussed. The Minister of Defense presented the security situation in Artsakh after the 44-day war and the existing threats.
On the same day, the delegation headed by the Deputy Minister of National Defense of Greece was received by the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Karen Brutyan. The perspctives of developing cooperation in the military-technical secorwere discussed.
ArmInfo. Protecting the national interests of Armenia and Artsakh is a sacred duty of each person, read a statement by the Free Democrats party.
"We consider it quite realistic that even in the current geopolitical situation and with the present challenges, negotiations can be conducted in the interests of Armenia and Artsakh, with favorable results for Armenia and Artsakh. Also, achieving vitally important peace is unacceptable under threat of force and at the expense of the vital interests of Armenia and Artsakh," the statement reads.
The following four key conditions must be the guidelines for Armenia in the negotiations:
"The exercise of the Artsakh people's right to self-determination as an internationally recognized fact must be the redline for Artsakh's independence to be internationally recognized. Artsakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan under no circumstances.
"De-occupation of the Azerbaijan-occupied Armenian territories of Artsakh, reliable and uninterrupted land communication between Armenia and Artsakh. Expeditious handover of the POWs and civilians without any preconditions.
"Restoration of Armenia's territorial integrity impaired on May 12, 2021. The international actors involved in the processes, the United Nations and the CSTO, are supposed to take active measures, using all the available international mechanisms, to ensure the Azerbaijani troops' immediate withdrawal from Armenia's sovereign territory.
"Establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions, ruling out any links with the settlement of the Artsakh problem," the statement reads.
Coping with the challenges facing Armenia and Artsakh and settling the Artsakh conflict are a nation-wide task requiring a common approach in the national interests of Armenia and Artsakh.
"It is not a monopoly of a political force. No one has the right to use the language of ultimatums with the people. Protecting the national interests of Armenia and Artsakh is a sacred duty of each of us," the statement reads.
ArmInfo.The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be settled in the foreseeable future because of serious disagreements between the authorities of the unrecognized Nagorno- Karabakh Republic (NKR) and Azerbaijan, NKR State Minister Artak Beglaryan said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
The major difference is that it is a "matter of prestige and ambitions" for Azerbaijan, whereas it is a "matter of life and death and historical justice" for Nagorno-Karabakh.
At present the NKR authorities are negotiating recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh with Yerevan, but no progress has so far been made. Armenia actually recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as both the states are maintaining "horizontal ties."
In this context, Mr Beglaryan added that efforts aimed at the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh will be continued. "After Artsakh's independence is internationally recognized, the issue of Artsakh joining Armenia can be considered," Mr Beglaryan said. Azerbaijan is feeling strong now, getting Turkish politico-military support. So the NKR authorities should seek the ways of "solving its problems through direct negotiations with Azerbaijan in the future." However, Azerbaijan must bee ready for peace, he said.
He rules out the European Union's involvement in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"The European Union should not be involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship and effective role of the Russian peacekeeping mission. We do not think that the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process should be a subject of negotiations by the European Union," Mr Beglaryan said.
Dialogue is a necessity, but it should not be "part of the present prickly relations between Russia and the West." "An international format is available, namely, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who are responsible for the conflict settlement," Mr Beglaryan said.
Since the c remains unsettled, Russian peacekeepers must stay in Nagorno-Karabakh without any time limits. The NKR authorities want Russian peacekeepers to be present as Azerbaijan is unwilling for negotiations based on three principles proposed by international mediators: territorial integrity, people's right to self-determination and nonuse of force or threat of force. "After the conflict is settled, the NKR and Russia could discuss further presence of peacekeepers. They could stay here if necessary. At present, however, their presence in Nagorno-Karabakh is vital," Mr Beglaryan said.
YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: The ruling CC [(Civil Contract faction)] is discussing the matter of making an amendment in the NA [(National Assembly)] Rules of Procedure-Law, by which appearing before the 44-day [Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war inquiry committee [of the NA] will become mandatory for those summoned. The committee realizes that they will be zeroed if the summoned former officials do not come.
And the first refusal [to come] was received recently from former foreign minister Vartan Oskanian, to whom committee chairman Andranik Kocharyan had sent an invitation. Oskanian has explained why he decided not to go to the discussion. First, he is not convinced that the goals of the committee are sincere and honest. Moreover, whether the committee can be fair and come to an objective conclusion.
The thing is that the law does not oblige the summoned to appear before the committee of inquiry. (…). The authorities are concerned that many will turn them down in this situation, so they want to make it mandatory by law to appear before the committee.
The number of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh must be increased. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Minister of State Artak Beglaryan said this in an interview with RIA Novosti.
"We believe that the number of the Russian contingent should be increased, and its powers should be expanded," Beglaryan said.
As a reason for this, he noted the fact that the line of contact between the two sides has increased almost 2.5 times after the Artsakh war in the fall of 2020. Also, Beglaryan accused the Azerbaijani side of inciting a number of incidents at the border.
According to him, the Artsakh authorities will continue their efforts to achieve international recognition of the republic.
"After the international recognition of Artsakh's independence, it will be possible to consider also the matter of the republic joining Armenia," Beglaryan added.
He stressed that now Azerbaijan "feels strong," in addition, Turkey provides military and political assistance to it, and therefore the Artsakh authorities need to seek avenues to "resolve their problems gradually, step by step, and later through direct negotiations with Azerbaijan."
But for that, Azerbaijan must be "ready for peace," the Artsakh official added.