Monday,
Armenian Security Service Vows Anti-Corruption Sweep
• Harry Tamrazian
Armenia - Artur Vanetsian, the new head of the National Security Service, meets
with media representatives in Yerevan, 19 May 2018.
The new head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) claimed to have
launched an unprecedented crackdown on government corruption, saying that
individuals who have for years embezzled large amounts of public funds will be
“held accountable” soon.
“In a short period of time you all will witness the exposure of people, who
have enriched themselves through large-scale corruption schemes, and their
being held accountable in a legal manner,” Artur Vanetsian told representatives
of Armenian and foreign media outlets at the weekend. “It doesn’t mean that we
will be resorting to some repressions or vengeance. Everything will be done
publicly.”
“My approach is as follows: those people who have illegally enriched themselves
must return those sums to the state budget, rather than go to jail,” he said.
Vanetsian declined to name any of the “persons who have stolen money from the
state.” It was thus not clear whether any of them was a member of former
President Serzh Sarkisian’s government or entourage.
In the same context, Vanetsian also spoke of another type of fraud detected by
the NSS. “We have many cases where people don’t know that some company has been
registered in their name, has engaged in business but hasn’t paid taxes,” he
said. “We know of 350 such persons.”
“These are ordinary people living in harsh socioeconomic conditions who had
their passports taken away for 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 drams ($10-40) and had
companies registered in their name. You will hear about that very soon,” he
added.
Vanetsian, 38, is a career NSS officer who was named to run the feared security
agency on May 10 two days after the Armenian parliament voted to elect Nikol
Pashinian as the country’s new prime minister. Pashinian has pledged, among
other things, to “root out” endemic corruption in the country.
Vanetsian said that he received a blank cheque from the new premier to
prosecute any state official engaged in corrupt practices. He claimed that
corruption in Armenia has already declined considerably in the past ten days.
“According to my information, since the election of the prime minister
traditionally corrupt structures have stopped their illegal activities,”
Vanetsian said. He referred to “corruption chains” that have long existed
within the country’s tax and customs services, judicial system and “some police
units.”
In the past, the NSS has never played a central role in crackdowns on
corruption declared by the previous Armenian governments. Those stated
anti-graft efforts were dismissed as a gimmick by opposition politicians and
civil society members.
Armenia ranked, together with Macedonia, Ethiopia and Vietnam, 107th out of 180
countries and territories evaluated in Transparency International’s 2017
Corruption Perceptions Index released in February.
Russia, Georgia Inch Closer To Key Transport Deal
Georgia - Armenian and other vehicles pass through the Upper Lars crossing with
Russia, 5May2016.
Russia and Georgia appear to have moved a step closer to opening new
Russian-Georgian transport corridors that would facilitate cargo shipments to
and from Armenia.
Landlocked Armenia’s trade with Russia, its leading commercial partner, is
mainly carried out through the sole Russian-Georgian border crossing at Upper
Lars. Traffic along that mountainous road is periodically blocked by bad
weather, especially in winter months.
The two other roads connecting Georgia and Russia pass through the breakaway
Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They were closed even before
the 2008 Russian-Georgian war and Moscow’s ensuing recognition of both regions
as independent states.
In 2011, Moscow and Tbilisi agreed to hire a Swiss company to operate special
customs checkpoints to be set up on the administrative boundaries of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Georgian government signed a relevant contract with
the Swiss company, SGS, last December.
The Russian side followed suit on Friday. Announcing the signing of the
contract with SGS, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow has thus “completed
procedures necessary for the start of a practical implementation” of the 2011
agreement.
Zurab Abashidze, Georgia’s chief negotiator in talks with Russia, said on
Sunday that the Russian move paves the way for the opening of the corridors.
Abashidze told RFE/RL that he and his Russian opposite number, Deputy Foreign
Minister Grigory Karasin, will set up a Russian-Georgian “working group” during
the next round of bilateral talks that will be held in Prague on Thursday. The
group will be tasked with working out practical modalities of opening and
operating the new trade routes, he said.
Armenian leaders have repeatedly expressed hope that the 2011 Russian-Georgian
deal will be implemented. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said in
December that his government is ready to allow Armenia as well as Turkey and
other countries to use, in case of a “force majeure situation,” the road
passing through South Ossetia.
Azeri Troops Warned Against Advancing Towards Armenian Border
Armenia - An Armenian soldier stands guard on the border with Azerbaijan's
Nakhichevan exclave, 14 May 2016.
The Armenian military warned Azerbaijani forces against trying to advance
towards Armenia’s border after an Azerbaijani soldier was shot dead there on
Sunday.
The soldier, Adil Tatarov, was reportedly killed by Armenian troops guarding
the border with Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. The Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry accused Yerevan of escalating tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict zone “instead of holding meetings” with international mediators.
The Armenian Defense Ministry blamed the fatal shooting on “provocative”
actions which it said have been taken Azerbaijani troops at some sections of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier in recent weeks. The ministry spokesman,
Artsrun Hovannisian, said they have been “conducting active engineering works
for the purpose of improving and advancing their positions.”
“The armed forces of Armenia have periodically, including in the last several
days, warned the commanders of Azerbaijani forces deployed on the border with
Armenia that this and other provocative actions cause shootouts and could lead
to undesirable losses,” Hovannisian wrote on Facebook. Such actions “cannot
stay unanswered,” he said.
Armenia’s newly appointed Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and Foreign Minister
Zohrab Mnatsakanian jointly visited some of the Armenian army posts on the
Nakhichevan border on May 18. According to his press office, Tonoyan told
troops serving there to “strictly thwart any adventure by the enemy.”
The two ministers inspected the troops two days after Azerbaijan’s President
Ilham Aliyev visited Nakhichevan and touted an Azerbaijani military buildup
carried out there in recent years. “Long-range missiles deployed in Nakhichevan
can destroy any military target of the enemy,” Aliyev said.
Armenia’s capital Yerevan is located roughly 70 kilometers northwest of the
nearest section of the Nakhichevan border.
Pashinian Insists On Snap Elections
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and members of his government pose for
a photograph with President Armen Sarkissian after being sworn in at the
presidential palace in Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday that he remains determined to
force fresh parliamentary elections in Armenia.
“As I have said, pre-term elections are a priority for us,” Pashinian told
reporters after he and the newly appointed members of his cabinettook the oath
of office at a ceremony led by President Armen Sarkissian.
“But it doesn’t mean that this is the only issue that we must solve,” he said.
“The government has to function normally and it has and will have long-term
programs. One thing doesn’t contradict the other.”
“After all, this government will also be taking part in the pre-term
parliamentary elections. In what format? That’s a different issue,” he added.
Pashinian called for such elections immediately after tens of thousands of his
supporters demonstrating in the streets of Yerevan forced Prime Minister and
former President Serzh Sarkisian to resign on April 23. He said last week that
he expects the polls to be held later this year.
Pashinian is backed by the three minority factions in the Armenian government
that have received ministerial portfolios in his government. Sarkisian’s
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) still holds a majority of seats in the
National Assembly, putting it in a position to block government bills or even
initiate a vote of no confidence in the cabinet.
The HHK’s parliamentary leaders have spoken out against the idea of snap
elections. They may also oppose major amendments to the Armenian Electoral Code
sought by Pashinian and his political allies.
Pashinian made clear on Monday that his political team will draft such
amendments before the end of June. He also signaled that it will be seeking
personnel changes in the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) which was
formed by the previous government.
Under the Armenian constitution, fresh general elections will have to be called
if the prime minister resigns and the parliament twice fails to elect a new
premier or if the government’s policy program is not approved by most lawmakers.
Press Review
(Saturday, May 19)
“Zhamanak” comments on Friday’s meeting between U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
Richard Mils and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. They reportedly discussed,
among other things, fresh parliamentary elections and amendments to the
Electoral Code sought by the new Armenian leadership. The pro-Western paper
finds this fact significant, saying that the United States is signaling support
for the idea of snap polls. It expects similar signals from the European Union
and hopes that Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) will not obstruct the
conduct of the elections.
“Aravot” carries an editorial on recriminations that were traded last week by
former President Levon Ter-Petrosian and former Defense Minister Vigen
Sargsian. Sargsian criticized Pashinian’s statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process made in Stepanakert, prompting a stern rebuke from Ter-Petrosian.
The latter also attacked another ex-president, Robert Kocharian, being himself
lambasted by a website close to Kocharian. The paper hopes that Ter-Petrosian,
Kocharian as well as former President Serzh Sarkisian will make amendments to
each other and accept the legitimacy of the country’s new leadership.
“Hraparak” says that Armenians’ level of civil consciousness is still
insufficient despite the specular success of the democratic revolution led by
Pashinian. “We must understand that regime change is not fun and nor is the
country placed at our disposal a toy,” editorializes the paper. “It needs to go
down a very serious path and it is incumbent on all of us to put it on a right
course. The enemies of our country are not only those who will abuse their
powers but also those who will see mistakes but stay silent.”
(Tatev Danielian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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