ACNIS reView

S:Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Nagorno Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan in Tepanakert on August 5. According to the official report, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues related to the cooperation between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Prime Minister Pashinyan was in Artsakh to participate in the opening ceremony of the 7th Pan-Armenian Games. The Prime Ministers of Armenia and Artsakh made a speech at the event, which was held in Stepanakert’s Revival Square.

To participate in the opening ceremony of the 7th Pan-Armenian Summer Games, the delegation headed by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ararat Mirzoyan, left for Stepanakert on a working visit on the same day.

…the most discussed topic in the Armenian media and social networks since August 5 Nikol Pashinyan’s extensive speech at Stepanakert’s Revival Square was, which will be discussed in this commentary. Perhaps one of the most remarkable episodes of the speech 2050 daten: to be carried out strategic goalswas the description of which elements of mob rule were not lacking. Thus, it is planned during that time Q:I will explain population deliver at least 5 million of a person, create 1 million 500 a thousand workplace, solve 2,5 million of a person employment question and: eliminate poverty: The Prime Minister considers it quite realistic after three decades Q:H to makeindustrial country, fifteenfold of the state gross internal the result, to have 10 billion the dollar surpassing at least 5 Armenian technological company, sevenfoldmedium salary, of the army fighting ability with index place occupy of the world leadingcountries at least first in the twenties, and so on.

It is difficult to say what kind of professional calculations these impressive numbers are based on. Nikol Pashinyan then sees an opportunity of education and of sciencefinancing twentyfold, tourists the number deliver 15 million, times of Armeniafootball the team to make of Europe and/or of the world of the championship medalist, conquer 25 olympic golden medal and: of chess of the world individual of the champion the rank. «Convinced եմ՝now from you many ask are, and why? Artsakh about nothing said not: The answer: a lotsimple is: becauseand: Artsakh Armenia: is, and: over!»,- extracame out Pashinyan: P:festive Baku, by the way, strictly condemnedcame out of Armenia prime ministerin: in Stepanakert done the statement that “Artsakh Armenia: is and: that’s it»: That about to say is Azerbaijan of the president staffexternal connections department boss Hikmet Hajjand:the: «Mountainous Ղարաբաղը՝ that Azerbaijan is: That ourhistorical and: inseparable the land is»,- yeswill return is Hajjand:the: His խոսքով՝ like «provocative» with callsof Armenia management spread outthe region put is of crisis on the edge: «Let it no who? no doubt, thatAzerbaijan will restore in:r: territorial completeness: Backand:thingsresponsibilityn: fallwhose Armenian side on»,- to say is Azerbaijan of the presidentstaff high rank the official: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the neighboring country also issued a condemning statement` noting, that RA: of the Prime Minister the statement«contradict is of the conflict regulation around carried away long-term of negotiationsto the essence»:

Local media and observers were also not late about Pashinyan’s speechgrades. “First News” in the commenter’s view, it can be debated for a long time whether the strategic goals are realistic to be about which he spoke in the capital of Artsakhl is Pashinyan. “Naturally, from the point of view of professional reasons, the promises made by the prime minister seem populist, because it is not visible, for example, by what miracle Armenia can have 5 million people in 2050 population,” comments the commentator of the news channel. According to him, The most important part of Pashinyan’s speech is about the so-called national consensus topics, some of which directly or indirectly refer to the next year’s elections in Artsakh. As always, there was no lack of mutually opposing opinions, and that is natural. If according to the interpretation of the “First News” commentator: The Prime Minister of Armenia considered “any manifestation of revolution” in Artsakh unacceptable, then “Civilnet” analyst Tatul Hakobyan, on the contrary, Nikol Pashinyan evaluates the speech as a step “in terms of establishing revolutionary trends in Artsakh”.

The dominant opinion, however, is that the rally in Stepanakert was about its unity atmosphere, with a national agenda, it was a strong blow to the old Armenian system and its Moscow patrons, and at the same time to the adventurers who secretly hope to turn Artsakh into a testing ground for the revolution. According to some observers, Pashinyan’s speech was a “yellow card” for those forces. According to their belief, the next time, without a doubt, the harsh opposition of the government will follow, “if the conspirators of different caliber do not take action”.

RA: As a result of urgent investigative, judicial and operative investigative measures undertaken by the Abovyan department of the Kotayk regional investigative department of the investigative committee, the circumstances of the explosion that took place on the Yerevan-Sevan highway on August 2 were revealed. As part of the criminal case initiated in connection with the case, three persons born in 1963, 1966 and 1974 were arrested on suspicion of committing a crime under Article 34-104, Part 2, Clause 6 and Article 235, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code.

…According to preliminary data, in 2019 On August 2, at around 12:30, the person who apparently committed the crime placed an explosive substance under the bridge in the 15th km section of the Yerevan-Sevan highway and detonated it during the journey of businessman Melik Manukyan’s (Shshi Melo) Range Rover and accompanying Nissan and Patrol cars, but the crime was not completed. by circumstances beyond their control.

According to information circulating in the press, the arrested are residents of Gyumri. According to the news reached by Armlur.am, they had problems with the former deputy and tried to settle old accounts by placing explosives under the bridge and blowing up his car. Fortunately, the calculation was made incorrectly and the car of the former MP did not explode.

The official miserly information is already enough to make the real picture clear: some people wanted to kill “Sshi Melo”, who was actually the main target of the unfinished crime. Although Manukyan has been a member of parliament for many years, he obviously has no political background and is mostly known to the public for a number of criminal stories that are similar to the actions and biographies of the “heroes” of our troubled times.

It is not so interesting who exactly wanted to “clear the score” with “Sshi Melo”, because he is one of those people who could “bring hundreds of others out onto the highway”. It can be confidently asserted that this will not be the last such case in post-revolutionary Armenia. The problem is that after the revolution, the criminal oligarchy was not only removed from power, but also experienced a certain transformation in the context of new realities. The previous agreements and connections do not work now, the former odious faces of the system, for objective and subjective reasons, can’t or don’t want to appear in the “public eye” anymore, preferring to stay “in the shadows” and act from there. Therefore, internal conflicts are almost inevitable. The authorities, particularly the law enforcement agencies, play an important role here.

Our society and the state should never become the scene of bloody “battles” of people and groups who are aligned with the previous system. It is very important for the guardians of the law to be able to quickly respond to possible risks and implement preventive functions. In the past, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan carried out such an illegal function, settling such disputes not with legal mechanisms, but with the rules typical of the criminal world. The representatives of the Armenian criminal and semi-criminal environment are used to such a way of relating, and it will be difficult to “convert” them. Therefore, the revolutionary government must act very patiently, carefully, strictly, but within the limits of the law. As the famous movie says, “A thief must go to jail.”

Gevorg Lalayan commented

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was on a working visit to Kyrgyzstan on August 8-9. The Prime Minister of Armenia participated in the regular session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Cholpon-Ata, had meetings with the President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov and the Head of the Russian Government Dmitry Medvedev. Within the framework of the visit, Pashinyan attended the opening of the annual international music festival “Tengri Music Fest – 2019” together with the prime ministers of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has received the application of the Constitutional Court in the case of the second president of RA, Robert Kocharyan, and will consider it in order of priority. Let’s remind that on July 18, the CC made a procedural decision to suspend the proceedings of the cases on determining the compliance of Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code with the Constitution based on the applications of the General Jurisdiction Court of Yerevan and R. Kocharyan, and applied to the ECHR and the Venice Commission for an advisory opinion on these cases.

Most of the documents that disappeared from the National Security Service (NSS) were recovered and were included in the investigation of the “March 1” case. Director of National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan said that in a briefing with journalists. According to him, these documents mainly refer to the “March 1” case. “In relation to the disappearance of the documents, an official investigation was carried out in the National Security Service, most of the documents were recovered and transferred to the Special Investigation Service (SSI) and joined the investigation of the March 1 case,” the director of the National Security Service told reporters.

The BBC reports that more than 600 people were arrested during an unauthorized protest in Moscow. The demonstration was organized in the Russian capital after the authorities deprived a number of opposition candidates of the opportunity to participate in local self-government elections.

The Guardian writes that many protesters claim they took part in the Moscow action, angered by the police’s violent crackdown on last week’s protests.

The New York Times later reported that Russian authorities said they had opened a criminal prosecution against an anti-corruption organization run by Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, Alexei Navalny. According to the report of the periodical, the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against the latter’s organization, the Anti-Corruption Fund, for obtaining 1 billion rubles (about 15 million dollars) by “criminal means” and using it as a salary.

Prepared by Marina Muradyan