Author: Ara Felekian

Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert

Russian billionaire German Sterligov has settled in Shushi, Karabakh. The family does not make the address public, but never refuses to meet journalists. Sterligov and his wife Alyona avoid speaking about the reasons behind their decision to move to Artsakh, but promise to reveal the truth at a press conference Monday.

Speaking to , Alyona Sterligova said they have Armenian friends and were planning to visit Armenia, but never thought the circumstances would change and they would move to Artsakh.

“It was my husband’s decision,” Alyona said. “We were in Belarus. My husband came and said we immediately had to leave for the Caucasus because of some reason. These circumstances do not allow us to return to Russia at this point. I did not ask anything, as this was not the first such case in my life (we moved several times in 1990s).”

The most important thing for Alyena is to see her spouse and children safe and healthy. She’s not upset for being forced to start new life in a new place. Instead, she’s very inspired, and the nature and people of Artsakh are the source of that inspiration.

“I don’t know where else we could feel as comfortable and where our children would feel as safe,”Alyona Sterligova says.

What attracts her most in Artsakh is that everything is natural here: chickens are not vaccinated, products are pure, animals are healthy. “This is what German has been talking about for a few years,” Alyona says. They intend to create the replica of their famous ‘Sloboda’ in Artsakh. They are currently travelling in the country in search for a proper land.

The place, where they intend to found the ‘Armenian Sloboda’ should have beautiful nature, good climate and water and a mountainous river that will operate a mill.

Alyona has aalready opened a fashion house in one of the rooms of the carpet museum in Shushi. She says the future models should be suitable to Armenian taste. Inspired by the carpets, she has decided to copy the prints on fabrics and sew Armenian clothes.

The Sterligovs do not conceal they do not know how long they will stay in Nagorno Karabakh. “The decisions may be sudden,” Alyona says. That does not mean, however, that the ‘Armenian Sloboda’ will stop operating.

Lured by the nature of Artsakh and the Armenian traditions, Sterligova says “it’s possible to restore the ecologically clean economy in Nagorno Karabakh.” “In that case many people will express the desire to come here, and you’ll have a choice whether to allow or not.”

Irrespective of the reasons behind the Sterligovs’ decision to move to Nagorno Karabakah, their presence has aroused great interest. Many of their friends can be seen visiting Artsakh.

On 8 July Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the Parliament of Great Britain and delivered there a speech.

In his speech the President touched upon the state-building process of Artsakh, its socioeconomic development, the Karabakh conflict settlement and answered questions raised by the attendees.

The President underlined that Artsakh had a special attitude towards the United Kingdom, considering Great Britain as an influential state, one of the cradles of democracy and the European civilization.

Bako Sahakyan mentioned that Artsakh was interested in developing relations with Great Britain, especially in deepening parliamentary ties, cementing ties in scientific, educational and humanitarian spheres.

According to the President, such optimism is first and foremost based on the existence of sincere and devoted friends of Artsakh in the British Parliament.

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs James Warlick (US), Pierre Andrieu (France) and Igor Popov (Russia) plan to return to the region in late July, the US co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick told Trend July 8.

Commenting on the recent meeting of the co-chairs in Washington, the diplomat said that the co-chairs held routine consultations in Washington where they met with US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and other senior US government officials to discuss the  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ongoing mediation efforts.

 

 

 

The Government will use extra-budget sums to cover the cost of increased electricity prices from August 1, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan told reporters today on the sidelines of the “Economic agenda 2015” forum. He did not go into detail about the financial sources.

There has been and can be no discussion on whether the owner of the Armenian Electric Networks will be changed or not, the Prime Minister told Public Radio of Armenia.

He said the decision to conduct an audit at the Electric Network was rational. “It was a correct decision, and will help to disperse the mistrust in the Public Services Regulatory Commission and the Electric Network of Armenia.”

The Prime Minister said the future steps will be determined after the audit has been conducted. He further added that the agreement on the audit company will be reached by July 10.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yevand Zakharyan said, in turn, that concrete discussions on the nationalization of the Electric Networks of Armenia will be held after the audit.

On June 4 Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with the Foreign Minister of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan.

During the meeting the Foreign Ministers discussed the developments in the process of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

The interlocutors referred to the formulations on Nagorno Karabakh included in the Joint Declaration adopted at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga.

Edward Nalbandian and Karen Mirzoyan exchanged views on the regional visit of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, and the meetings with the leaders of Armenia and Artsakh.

The foreign Ministers of Armenia and Artsakh discussed issues related to the cooperation between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries.

At least 13 people have been killed by a tornado that hit the northern Mexico border city of Ciudad Acuna, the BBC reports.

Hundreds of homes have been damaged or destroyed in the city, in Coahuila state, just across the border from Del Rio, Texas.

The US state has had big floods, with at least three dead and 12 missing.

Coahuila Governor Ruben Moreira, on a visit to the stricken area, said 10 adults and three children had died and a baby was missing. Another 150 people had been taken to hospital, he said.

The authorities say that more than 1,000 homes have been damaged by the storm.

The understandings regarding the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue must be translated into the language of specific formulas, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov on Monday, TASS reports.

“Nobody denies the fact that the conflict has lasted for too long,” he said, speaking about Nagorno-Karabakh, which is the subject of an unresolved dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“There is a realistic basis for concluding agreements. Everybody agrees with that. Now it is important to translate this understanding into the language of specific formulas,” he said adding that this is usually “not the easiest matter.”

In comments to talks in Moscow with his Azerbaijan’s counterpart, Lavrov said the sides discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh issue on Sunday and in particular the effort made over the past years, including as part of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs – Russia, the United States and France.

Lavrov has expressed cautious but also strengthening optimism about the situation.

May 8 marks one of the most significant victories in the history of the Armenian nation. Shushi was liberated on this day 23 years ago.

During the Karabakh liberation war of early 1990s, Shushi became one of Azerbaijan’s main military strongholds in Nagorno-Karabakh.  From this strategic location, the Azeri army would bombard Karabakh’s capital Stepanakert and adjacent Armenian village.

The liberation of Shushi in May, 1992, however, served as a turning point.

About 3,800 volunteers participated in the operation of liberation of Shushi the night of May 8. The operation was led by Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan, the Commander of the self-defense forces of Artsakh.

Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan declared early on May 9 that all groupings of the rival had left Shushi.

President Serzh Sargsyan, who has paid a working visit to the United States of America, today visited the Library of Congress which has recently been significantly enriched with new video and audio records and digital materials.

The president toured the library, familiarized himself with some of the exhibits which included numerous Armenian language materials and those about Armenia – historical records, old maps with Armenia and testimonies of the Armenian Genocide by American diplomat Henry Morgenthau and others.

Later on, Serzh Sargsyan had a brief meeting with James Billington, Librarian of Congress.

The president also attended the cancellation ceremony of new stamps marking the Armenian Genocide Centennial. HayPost CJSC, the official national postal operator of the Republic of Armenia, cancelled one stamp titled “The Armenian Genocide Centennial: Henry Morgenthau” and one stamp with a souvenir sheet titled “The Armenian Genocide Centennial: American Committee for Relief in the Near East.”

The souvenir sheet displays the donation poster of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East, “They Shall Not Perish,” with the background of Armenian orphans thanking the U.S.