Friday, September 8, 2023
Moscow Summons Armenian Envoy Over ‘Unfriendly’ Moves
Russia - A view of the the building of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Moscow,
January 13, 2019.:
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Armenia’s ambassador on Friday to protest
against what it described as “a series of unfriendly steps” taken by Yerevan
against Moscow in recent days.
The ministry listed the Armenian government’s decision to host a joint
U.S.-Armenian military exercise, this week’s visit to Ukraine by Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian’s wife and the Armenian parliament’s anticipated ratification of
the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest
warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin early this year.
In a statement, it said Ambassador Vagharshak Harutiunian heard a “tough
presentation” regarding these moves. He was also handed a note of protest
against Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian’s “offensive remarks”
addressed to Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Zakharova poured scorn on Pashinian on Monday after he declared that he wants to
“diversify our security policy” because he believes Armenia’s military alliance
with Russia has been a “strategic mistake.” Zakharova went on to decry
Simonian’s “boorish” criticism of Russian peacekeepers stationed in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I’m not going to respond to some female secretary,” Simonian shot back the
following day. “It’s not my level.”
Russian-Armenian relations have significantly deteriorated over the past year,
with Armenian leaders increasingly complaining about what they see as a lack of
Russian support for Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan. The rift between
Moscow and Yerevan has stoked speculation about a pro-Western shift in Armenia’s
traditional geopolitical orientation.
Some of Pashinian’s political allies as well as Western-funded civic groups have
welcomed such a prospect. By contrast, Armenia’s main opposition groups are
seriously concerned about it, arguing that the West is not ready to give Armenia
security guarantees or military aid.
The Foreign Ministry in Moscow insisted on Friday that Russia and Armenia
“remain allies.”
Azerbaijan Blasts Armenia Amid War Talk
Azerbaijan - Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and presidential aide Hikmet
Hajiyev meet with foreign diplomats, Baku, September 13, 2022.
Azerbaijan accused Armenia of “imitating” peace talks and continuing to foment
“separatism” in Nagorno-Karabakh on Friday following Armenian claims that it is
planning another war in the conflict zone.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and two top aides to President
Ilham Aliyev made the accusations during an extraordinary meeting with
Baku-based ambassadors of foreign states.
An Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry statement cited them as saying that Yerevan is
not honoring Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements reached after the 2020 war in
Karabakh.
“Armenia's goal is to sustain separatism in the territory of Azerbaijan with all
possible ideological, political, military, financial and other means. In this
way, Armenia is trying to gain time and avoid real steps that can ensure
progress in all areas of negotiations,” they said, according to the statement.
The Azerbaijani officials also alleged that the Armenian side has stepped up
“military provocations.” They went on to condemn as “extremely provocative” the
election of Karabakh’s new president by local lawmakers scheduled for Saturday.
The Armenian government said earlier this week that Azerbaijan has been massing
troops along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Karabakh “line of contact”
in possible preparation for offensive military operations. Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian urged the international community to take “very serious measures” to
thwart Baku’s alleged plans.
Officials from the Armenian Defense Ministry on Friday again met with
Yerevan-based foreign military attaches to brief them on the situation along the
volatile border. According to a ministry statement, they said the situation
remains “tense” because of the Azerbaijani military buildup. Armenian army units
are therefore “continuing to take necessary actions to stabilize it and prevent
provocations,” added the statement.
Karabakh’s army said on Tuesday that “large numbers” of Azerbaijani soldiers and
military hardware are massing at various sections of the line of contact. It
released purported videos of the troop movements. The Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry said afterwards that its troops are simply engaging in routine training.
Pro-Russian Blogger, Journalist Detained In Armenia
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia- Journalist Ashot Gevorgian (left) and blogger Mika Badalian.
An Armenian journalist working for the Russian news agency Sputnik and a
pro-Russian blogger are among seven persons arrested in Armenia on suspicion of
illegal arms possession and trafficking.
Law-enforcement authorities have so far given few details of criminal
proceedings that led to the arrests made in southeastern Syunik province on
Wednesday and Thursday. According to them, the National Security Service (NSS)
launched the investigation on August 24.
Another law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, said on Friday that
two of the suspects were detained while trafficking an assault rifle, multiple
pistols, hand grenades and ammunition provided by an unnamed resident of a
Syunik village close to the Azerbaijani border. A committee spokesman refused to
elaborate.
A lawyer representing Sputnik journalist Ashot Gevorgian and blogger Mika
Badalian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the weapons were found in
Gevorgian’s car. Liana Grigorian insisted, however, that the two men “have
nothing to do” with them and that the arrests were the result of a
“misunderstanding.”
The lawyer also said that Gevorgian and Badalian, who is an outspoken critic of
the Armenian government, travelled to Syunik on assignment on Wednesday and were
taken into custody hours later.
None of the seven suspects was formally charged as of Friday afternoon. Under
Armenian law, the investigators must indict or free them within 72 hours after
their detention.
The Russian Embassy in Yerevan expressed concern at the arrests of Gevorgian and
Badalian. “We will take steps to clarify the circumstances of what happened,” it
said in a statement.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, was also concerned,
saying that the arrests may be a “provocation by those who go out of their way
to ruin relations between the two countries.”
“The West has invested a lot of money in that,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram late
on Thursday. “Forces seeking that have clearly become more active lately.”
The Russian-Armenian relationship has steadily deteriorated since the 2020 war
in Nagorno-Karabakh. Tensions between the two allied states rose this week after
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called Armenia’s reliance on Russia for defense a
“strategic mistake” and his government decided to host a U.S.-Armenian military
exercise.
Top U.S. Diplomat Phones Armenian, Azeri FMs
Albania - U.S Ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim speaks during the inauguration of a
memorial in Tirana,, July 9, 2020
A senior U.S. State Department official called on Friday for the simultaneous
opening of the Lachin corridor and “other routes” for humanitarian supplies to
Nagorno-Karabakh in phone calls with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers.
Yuri Kim, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia,
reiterated Washington’s “serious concerns over the humanitarian situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh” when she spoke to Armenia’s Ararat Mirzoyan early in the
morning.
“We urge all sides to work together now to immediately and simultaneously open
Lachin and other routes to get desperately needed humanitarian supplies into
Nagorno-Karabakh,” she wrote in a post on the social media platform X, formerly
known as Twitter.
Kim made the same point during her separate phone call with Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Jeyhun Bayramov. She described their conversation as “constructive.”
According to an Azerbaijani readout of the call, Bayramov denied the
humanitarian crisis in Karabakh, saying that Baku has not been blocking the
Armenian-populated region’s land link with Armenia and the outside world. He
dismissed international calls for the unblocking of the Lachin corridor as
“interference in our country’s internal affairs.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
again discussed the situation in Karabakh in a September 1 call revealed by the
U.S. State Department five days later. The department said Blinken insisted on
the need for renewed traffic through the Lachin corridor “while recognizing the
importance of additional routes from Azerbaijan.”
Despite struggling with severe shortages of food, medicine and other basic
necessities, most residents of Karabakh remain strongly opposed to the
alternative supply line sought by Baku. They believe that it is aimed at
legitimizing the blockade and helping Azerbaijan regain full control over
Karabakh.
Armenia’s position on the compromise solution favored by the United States as
well as the European Union is not clear.
The official statements on Kim’s phone talks with Mirzoyan and Bayramov did not
say whether she also discussed mounting tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border and the Karabakh “line of contact.” Armenian officials say that
Azerbaijan has been massing troops there in possible preparation for offensive
military operations.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Thursday urged the international community to
take “very serious measures” to thwart Baku’s alleged plans. The Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry dismissed Pashinian’s appeal and said that Yerevan should end
its “military-political provocations.”
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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