Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Armenian Environment Minister Resigns
Armenia -- Environment Minister Erik Grigorian speaks to RFE/RL, Yerevan, July
23, 2019
Armenia’s Environment Minister Erik Grigorian stepped down for unknown reasons
on Tuesday.
Grigorian did not explain his resignation which was promptly accepted by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian. He was formally relieved of his duties by President
Armen Sarkissian.
Pashinian also did not comment on the resignation. Nor did he immediately name
Grigorian’s replacement.
“It is everybody’s duty to protect the environment, regardless of our
profession, field of work and preferences,” Grigorian wrote on his Facebook page
hours before the official confirmation of his resignation.
Grigorian, 40, was appointed as environment minister in May 2018 following the
“Velvet Revolution” that brought Pashinian to power.
He served as first deputy environment minister in 2017-2018. In 2017, he was
also an assistant to then Prime Minister Karen Karapetian.
Provincial Medical Centers To Reopen After COVID-19 Outbreak
Armenia -- The Nork hospital in Yerevan specializing in treatment of infectious
diseases, March 24, 2020.
A hospital and a policlinic in a small town in eastern Armenia will resume their
work on Wednesday more than two weeks after dozens of their employees were
infected with coronavirus.
Authorities sealed off the town of Vartenis on April 22 after registering 47
cases of coronavirus there. They said that 21 of the infected people are
doctors, nurses and other people working at the local medical centers.
One of them, a policlinic doctor, was identified as the primary source of the
COVID-19 outbreak in the local community 160 kilometers northeast of Yerevan.
Both facilities were temporarily shut down and their staff placed under
quarantine as a result.
Gnel Sanosian, the governor of the surrounding Gegharkunik province, announced
on Tuesday that all 76 employees of the hospital and the 64 policlinic staffers
tested negative for the virus at the end of the two-week isolation.
Sanosian said that the hospital and the policlinic will therefore be reopened on
Wednesday. They will follow “all necessary anti-epidemic rules,” he added in a
Facebook post.
All roads leading to Vartenis will remain closed at least until Thursday. It is
not yet clear whether the authorities will extend the lockdown later this week.
Health Minister Arsen Torosian has described mass infections among medical
personnel as one of the factors behind the continuing spread of coronavirus in
Armenia. According to him, 320 healthcare workers across Armenia have contracted
the disease so far, accounting for more than 12 percent of all coronavirus cases
confirmed to date.
“This is certainly a very unfortunate but the same time inevitable phenomenon,”
Torosian wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “You can probably imagine how difficult
things get for the healthcare system when it has to treat or isolate people who
themselves are supposed to treat coronavirus patients.”
Torosian also said that his ministry had ordered medics who are aged over 60 or
suffer from serious chronic illness to stay at home as much as possible. This
has helped to prevent coronavirus-related deaths among doctors and nurses, he
said.
The Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday morning that the total number of
COVID-19 cases in the country rose by 112 to 2,619 in the past day. It also said
that the death toll from the virus reached 40.
Torosian warned on Monday that the number of the cases could quadruple by the
end of this month if Armenians fail to observe physical distancing and take
other precautions against the virus.
The warning came as the Armenian government essentially ended a nationwide
lockdown imposed in late March. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Sunday
that citizens must now share with the government “responsibility” for tackling
the epidemic and minimizing its consequences.
Yerevan Expects More Gas Talks With Moscow
Armenia -- Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian speaks at a press conference,
Yerevan, April 21, 2020.
Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian has said that Armenia will hold further
discussions with Russia on the price of Russian natural gas which Yerevan hopes
will be reduced soon.
The Armenian government effectively requested a price cut with a letter sent by
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian to the chairman of Russia’s Gazprom energy
giant, Alexei Miller, in late March. Grigorian argued, among other things, that
international oil prices, which essentially determine the cost of Russian gas
supplied to Europe, have fallen sharply due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Miller responded by indicating that it is up to the governments of the two
countries to agree on the Russian gas price for Armenia.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed the issue with Russian President
Vladimir Putin in an April 6 phone call.
Two weeks later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed complaints
that European Union member states are now paying less for Russian gas than
Armenia and Belarus because of the collapse in international oil prices. He
argued that that unlike EU consumers, the two ex-Soviet states allied to Russia
buy Russian gas at fixed prices that had been set well below international
market-based levels.
Grigorian countered that Russian natural gas has never been as cheap for Armenia
as was claimed by Lavrov. He also dismissed Lavrov’s criticism of ongoing
criminal investigations into major Russian companies operating in Armenia and
the state-owned Russia Railways network in particular.
Mnatsakanian admitted on Monday the existence of problematic “issues” in
Russian-Armenian relations while emphasizing that the two countries remain close
allies.
“The gas issue is extremely important for Armenia, and we are going to continue
to discuss it with our Russian partners,” he told journalists.
Gazprom raised the wholesale price of its gas delivered to Armenia from $150 to
$165 per thousand cubic meters in January 2019. Nevertheless the cost of gas
supplied to Armenian households and businesses has remained unchanged since then.
Armenia’s Gazprom-owned gas distribution network has incurred additional losses
as a result. Last month it asked the Public Services Regulatory Commission
(PSRC) to allow a roughly 11 percent rise in its retail prices.
The request was filed one day after Grigorian’s letter to Miller. The PSRC has
to decide by June 19 whether to approve or reject it.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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