Author: Badalian Vardan

Putin-Sargsyan: Few details released about Moscow meeting believed to
have reviewed key geopolitical issues

News | 20.12.12 | 12:08

Photo:

By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

The presidents of Armenia and Russia met in Moscow Wednesday evening
on the sidelines of a major gathering of several post-Soviet leaders
in the Russian capital.

Very few details of the meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir
Putin have been released by their press offices in Yerevan and Moscow.

According to the Armenian presidential press service, the two leaders
discussed `Armenian-Russian strategic relations, including issues of
deepening cooperation in areas of mutual interest.’

The terse report, however, may actually be indicative of quite serious
issues being discussed at the meeting, like Armenia’s possible
accession to the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, or a
nascent Eurasian Union (EAU), a Putin-advocated re-integration project
for former Soviet republics. Recently, officials in Armenia have been
talking more about developing closer ties with the European Union.
Many say EAU and EU are, in fact, mutually exclusive.

Before his meeting with Putin, Sargsyan took part in the summit of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led defense pact
that besides Armenia also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan. The Armenian leader made a speech at the gathering,
addressing issues like the Karabakh settlement and the Syria crisis.

In particular, speaking about the situation in Syria, Sargsyan said
that Armenia advocates an immediate cessation of hostilities in this
Middle Eastern country and a peaceful resolution of the internal
conflict exclusively by the citizens of Syria. He also stressed that
Armenia will continue to help ethnic Armenians in Aleppo as well as
Syrian Armenians who are already in Yerevan.

In regards to the Karabakh conflict, the Armenian leader criticized
Azerbaijan for its `unconstructive’ approach to the current settlement
effort and its continuing war rhetoric and belligerent policies.

`We are convinced that the only solution to existing conflicts is the
way of negotiations. We proceed from the fact that after the ceasefire
was reached between the conflicting sides [in Karabakh], especially
that it has held for 18 years, the resumption of military operations
or even a threat of renewed hostilities is a direct violation of the
norms and principles of international law,’ said the president of
Armenia. `This is the most short-sighted path towards a new tide of
violence, hatred and bloodshed. Problems do not get solved this way,
but they only get more complicated.’

Sargsyan also slammed the Azerbaijani government over what he called
propaganda of hatred and hostility towards Armenians among its
citizens. He, in particular, cited the so-called Safarov Affair as
proof to his words.

`As a matter of fact, killing an Armenian is no longer a crime in
Azerbaijan,’ said Sargsyan, referring to the case of Ramil Safarov,
who had been serving a life sentence in a Hungarian jail for a brutal
killing of a sleeping Armenian officer at a NATO-sponsored language
course in 2004 before being handed over and controversially pardoned
in Azerbaijan on August 31.

The president’s comments came the same day the Kremlin hosted a
EurAsEC summit. Before the meetings many analysts in Yerevan expected
that Sargsyan would be `made’ to sign certain documents pledging
Armenia’s closer cooperation with these organizations, but no such
thing has been announced afterwards.

Earlier, however, Eurasian Economic Commission Board Chairman Victor
Khristenko announced that the Customs Union expected to sign documents
on cooperation with Armenia in early 2013 (when Putin is expected to
visit Armenia).

In a Wednesday interview with the Russian newspaper, Vedomosti,
Khristenko made a number of interesting comments in this regard.

To the paper’s question on whether there are other countries willing
to join the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union, Khristenko said:
`Recently, we arranged with the Government of Armenia that we would
sign a memorandum similar to that we have with Ukraine. I think that
in the case with Armenia progress will be more intensive than in the
case with Ukraine.’

In response to the Vedomosti correspondent’s remark that Armenia has
no common borders with the Customs Union, Khristenko said: `It seems
an insurmountable obstacle to many. But in my view it is not so.
Russia, too, has an exclave of Kaliningrad. Given the developed level
of communications existing today, the Customs Union can definitely
have an exclave. Of course, Armenia has very sensitive infrastructure
constraints as the sole transport corridor leading to the Customs
Union passes through Georgia. But Armenia’s strategic interest is
obvious and it makes Armenia a Eurasian country.’

`We should consider all interesting formats. In general, the world is
changing, and we may get new interaction models in our arsenal, models
that haven’t been there before,’ said the official, without
elaborating.

This interview has reassured observers that Armenia, which is
currently striving to sign an association agreement with the European
Union, will have to continue her maneuvering between Moscow and
Brussels in the time to come. Analysts do not rule out that Putin’s
Russia may use plans to raise natural gas prices and secret scenarios
to prevent Sargsyan’s smooth reelection in February as trump cards in
the unfolding battle for allegiances.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT IGNORES CONCERNS ABOUT TEGHUT MINE

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 | Posted by Contributor

Mountaintop removal at the site on December 1, 2012 (photo by Babken
DerGrigorian)

YEREVAN-The Armenia Copper Programme (ACP), a division of the Vallex
Group registered offshore in Liechtenstein, has begun operating a
controversial mining project initiated in 2007 in the northern village
of Teghut. Preliminary work on the project began with the clearing of
a portion of the pristine Teghut Forest to create a massive tailing
dump for the toxic waste left after mineral processing. Currently,
the company is aggressively removing a mountain in order to reach
the underground deposits of copper and molybdenum.

The Republic of Armenia has openly made mining a key part of its
economic development strategy for the country, despite widespread
public protest on environmental, economic, and social grounds. There
are more than 400 active mines and 19 tailing dumps in Armenia, a
small country the size of the US state of Maryland. Scientists have
reported major health risks in communities around the mines scattered
throughout Armenia. Human rights and environmental activists have
also protested violations of property rights and the loss of rare
and endangered ecosystems and biodiversity.

According to an expert at a recent conference on the socio-economics
of mining held at American University of Armenia, the value of the
minerals in the Teghut mine are $20 billion, yet only $300 million
is anticipated in taxes and salaries from this project, or a mere
1.5 percent. This is widely understood to be grossly inadequate to
cover the environmental and social costs that a project of this type
and magnitude will generate.

A coalition of 14 prominent organizations including Armenia Tree
Project (ATP) and Armenian Environmental Network (AEN) sent a letter
to President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan on
October 30, requesting an independent Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) for the Teghut mining project.

“Cases brought in opposition to the operations in Armenian courts have
been cursorily and improperly dismissed on strictly procedural bases
without proper examination as to the substance of the claims. The
Environmental Impact Assessment and public notice requirements are
fatally flawed. The irreparable damage already done to Teghut, and the
yet greater damage that will be done to the region if mining continues,
demand immediate attention,” reads the letter, in part.

The joint letter requests the EIA in order to: 1. comply with domestic
and international laws, 2. determine and present an accurate analysis
of the environmental impact of the Teghut mining operations, 3. address
the potential public health impacts of the Teghut mining operations,
4. take alternative development options to mining into consideration,
and 5. restore public faith and trust in government. For the full
text of the letter, go to:

The coalition recently received a response to the letter from Edgar
Pirumyan, Ministry of Nature Protection Chief of Staff, who said
that an EIA was completed within the scope of the law and that the
project was therefore approved. For the full text of the reply,
go to:

“We are disappointed with the perfunctory response through the
Ministry of Nature Protection whose primary mission is the protection
of Armenia’s environment. While an environmental assessment was
conducted for the Teghut mining project, the organization conducting
it, LMI, is a subsidiary of Vallex, which is the project sponsor. By
international standards, the LMI assessment certainly cannot be
considered an ‘independent’ environmental assessment,” notes ATP
Managing Director Tom Garabedian.

“We restate our request that a valid independent environmental impact
assessment be conducted before any further work at the Teghut site is
undertaken. We are heartened by the public scrutiny which the Teghut
project has received and support the efforts of the activists who are
petitioning the Armenian government. In a recent visit to California,
the Prime Minister expressed his commitment to Armenia’s environment.

We hope that there is a willingness of the government to reexamine
Teghut and mining in Armenia as a whole,” concludes Garabedian.

“The Teghut issue resonates with Armenians near and far because
it weaves together a number of contemporary issues: rule of law;
transparency in decision-making; public health considerations; and
public access to information,” says Ursula Kazarian, President of AEN.

She continues, “The unrelenting pillaging of precious and limited
natural resources for the short-term financial benefit of a handful of
foreign and Armenian investors is both tragic and appalling. Despite
the government’s lackluster response to our request for an independent
EIA, we are encouraged by the increasing civic engagement we are
seeing on the ground and in the Diaspora around this issue, and we
hope to see that momentum continue.”

The letter was co-signed by Acopian Center for the Environment,
Armenian American Health Professionals Organization, Armenian American
Medical Association, Armenian American Nurses Association, Armenian
American Pharmacists Association, Armenian Bar Association, Armenian
International Dental Association, Armenian Medical International
Committee, Axis of Justice (Serj Tankian), Civic Forum, haikProject,
and World Wide Fund for Nature, Armenia.

The Armenian Environmental Network’s (AEN) mission is to increase
information and engagement among Armenians, in Armenia and in the
Diaspora, and the wider conservation community about environmental
issues in Armenia, while facilitating environmentally sustainable
development in Armenia through responsible partnerships of
Diasporan and international resources. Please visit the website

ATP’s mission is to assist the Armenian people in using trees
to improve their standard of living and protect the environment,
guided by the desire to promote self-sufficiency, aid those with the
fewest resources first, and conserve the indigenous ecosystem. ATP’s
three major programs are tree planting, environmental education,
and sustainable development initiatives. For more information, please
visit the website

WE DON’T NEED GOOD KINGS AND BENEFACTOR OLIGARCHS
Siranuysh Papyan

11:37 20/12/2012
Story from Lragir.am News:

Interview with Armen Hovhannisyan, blogger

Armen, you said soon the process of dividing money and power from
the system will start. Explain you point please.

There will be such a desire for a simple reason. When you are in
government and you have money, you do not need it but you will not be
there after 2018, and it is not clear what you will be so you need to
separate the money and power in order to ensure your security. This
strategy was developed in 2007 by the government which continues to
gain wealth.

Recently unpleasant and primitive political developments have taken
place. I have never supported Tsarukyan or his camp but a lot of
people believed him, and the oligarchy again indicated that it will
sacrifice people who believe in it. I think they will be able to
keep their property by surrendering or ceding but this is absolutely
groundless. They will not keep anything, deprivation of property will
proceed very fast. I hope those people who believe in the good king
or benefactor oligarchs will understand that this game is absolutely
hopeless.

Is there a division between the government and the oligarchy?

The oligarchy is the government, they are the oligarchs. A group says
they will humiliate people more easily with the help of modern tools
while the other group thinks that there must be a dozen of families
which will take an area or a sphere each and will make sure that
people are brought to their knee in that particular area. These are
matters of technique which should not interest a citizen. We have
opposite interests and there may be far-sighted people who will
understand that it is pointless to fight for millions and will make
a compromise with the society but I have not met such people yet.

How should hopelessness be overcome? Elections will not change
anything. What role will a citizen have? We are discussing an
alternative but it is not there yet.

Unfortunately, an alternative is influenced by tools used by
the government. The tools are modern ones, based on intellect and
technology. This intellectual and technological basis is used against
the alternative. An alternative cannot develop in a vacuum, and it
may lose some battles and win others. Most importantly, there must
be people who will resist at the beginning. There must be people who
say let’s make the government live in accordance with the laws they
adopt but people will be ready to force them to live in accordance
with our laws. This is another level of radicalism. We constantly
refer to their Constitution, their laws which they violate every
morning when they get up. Sometimes we succeed. But principled people
must say they are tired of this situation and they will create a new
order, new laws and you will obey these laws. People can see that the
so-called reformist forces lose at best because losing is not a shame,
but they often retreat. They will follow another type of forces.

We can see that some texts are written, the problems we raise are
defined but there is no social consolidation.

Among the the purest and most open people pessimism is fashionable,
they say people will not change. If this is so, then let’s go and
lie down in the cemetery and wait until death comes, the end of the
Armenian world and state comes. I believe that even such infertile,
humiliated, small people as us can stand up and change the situation
for their benefit of their next generation. I do not believe that
there is an Armenian who drinks water from the puddle does not wish
their children to drink water from a clear spring. The instinct and
natural wish that lives in anyone must be woken up, and we will need
only such leaders who will indicate that they are not one of those
“negotiators” and the mutual agreement is not self-serving.

However, in the result of social pressure the Compatriots program
has been discontinued.

In fact, they encouraged it, they thought they exported people and
one or two people from each family would leave to work abroad and
send remittances to their family. Then the government would get
a significant part of this money through different economic and
financial levers, such as the exchange rate. However, they saw that
more people leave while remittances don’t grow. In fact, we were
had by Russia. Unfortunately, thousands of people have left Armenia
forever. This is a business for them, they sell people, now they see
remittances have not grown and said “they’d better die here”.

Serzh Sargsyan again read out a text of modernization that the civil
society creates a peculiar mechanism of balance. Does the civil
society feel it has such a role?

This might be importance for pressure on competitive oligarchs, for
misleading the West, for distracting the society from the idea of
establishment of a nation state. This does not mean that the civil
society is such. A knife is something to a cook and another thing to
a bandit.

OSCE MG DOES NOT SHOW PROPER PRINCIPLED STAND OVER KHOJALY AIRPORT ISSUE – AZERBAIJAN

Vestnik Kavkaza
Dec 19 2012
Russia

The OSCE Minsk Group does not demonstrate a proper principled stand
over the issue of the opening of Khojaly airport, Azerbaijani Deputy
Foreign Minister Araz Azimov believes, Trend reports.

“The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs hold a diffident position on this
issue. They should understand that if Armenia undertakes such an
instigating step, it will lead to a crisis. Azerbaijan cannot forgive
such an illegal act and will not be silent,” Azimov told journalists
on Wednesday.

Answering a question on Armenia’s digression from the negotiation
process in connection with upcoming elections in the country, Azimov
stressed that they are held every four years, and this step of Armenia
cannot be explained by elections.

“The Armenian authorities, in general, are not interested in resolving
the conflict,” he added.

.

THE SPORTSMAN FROM ARTSAKH A PRIZEWINNER OF THE WORLD OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Wednesday, 19 December 2012 13:11

Davit Karapetyan, an sportsman from Artsakh, took the 3rd prize-winning
place in the world 2nd open Kiokushin Kai Karate Do Junior Championship
which was conducted in RF capital Moscow from December 7 till 9.

“I won the first two battles with knock-out yet I lost the semi-final
round to the Russian sportsman,” Davit Karapetyan says and adds he
had no weak opponent in the championship.

In her interview to Karabakh-open.info chairman of the kiokushin-kai
karate do federation of Artsakh Karine Musayelyan said that two
sportsmen from Artsakh Davit Karapetyan /in the age group of 14 to 15
years old, in 45 kg weight class/ and Gor Adamyan /in the age group
of 14 to 15 years old, in 60 kg weight class/ were in the national
team of Armenia participating in the championship.

“The championship was participated by 400 sportsmen from 35 countries
of the world,” K. Musayelyan added.

It must be noted that in the first open championship Artur Arushanyan
had also won the 3rd place.

IN 1993 AZERBAIJANI INTELLIGENCE CARRIED OUT TERRORIST ACTS IN GEORGIA IN ORDER TO BLOCKADE ARMENIA:INTERVIEW WITH R. KARAYEV

Source: Panorama.am
16:41 20/12/2012

In 1993, Azerbaijani OMON squads committed terrorist acts in Georgia
and South Ossetia in order to blockade communication of Armenia with
the external world, said veteran of special purpose police unit (OMON)
of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan Rogdai Karaev.

Karaev was enrolled in OMON after giving his service at the troops
attached to the Interior Ministry of the USSR in 1990. He was
transferred to the intelligence service group as soon as the NKR
Self-Defense Forces liberated Shushi on May 1992.

Speaking about the events of 1993, he mentioned, “Taking into
consideration my experience, they could not fire me, but gave me
instructions firing me from OMON. I was assigned to the central office
of the Interior Ministry within two months. During that period we
succeeded an operation which I would like to mention. We left for
Taganrog with a large sum of money. Here, we illegally acquired
helicopters and smuggled them in to Azerbaijan. There were two more
operations in Georgia, in Ossetia, where we took up steps for cutting
off access of trains with fuel to Armenia,” he said.

R. Karaev stated that Azerbaijani OMON committed even more covert
actions, however, he did not talk about them. “After the fall of
Shushi, I was transferred to the intelligence service group. But there
have been operations about which that I cannot speak even now, after
20 years. I am not authorized to talk about those operations. Maybe
in some 50-60 years it will be okay talking about them,” noticed
veteran of Azerbaijani OMON Rogdai Karaev.

Karaev also noted that Azerbaijani OMON suffered heavy losses in
Karabakh, losing about 50% of its personnel. Besides that, he did
not deny casualties among civilians with Armenian nationality during
“Operation Koltso (Operation Ring)” which was conducted by the Soviet
troops and the Azerbaijani OMON in 1991. He also mentioned that after
the Horadiz operation in 1994 Azerbaijani army became exhausted and
could not advance. Karaev also noted that situation for Azerbaijan
in direction of Gianja was tough in that period.

RUSSIA’S PUTIN BACKS U.S. ADOPTIONS BAN

December 20, 2012 – 16:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Russian President Vladimir Putin backed a
controversial tit-for-tat amendment that would ban U.S. citizens from
adopting Russian children at a Dec 20 press conference, according to
RIA Novosti.

“It’s an emotional, but adequate response,” Putin said, answering
the first query of many at a question-and-answer session with about
1,000 Russian and foreign journalists, the first of this scale in
his third presidential term.

The proposed amendment banning U.S. adoptions is part of a larger
bill retaliating for the enactment of the Magnitsky Act in the
United States, which imposes visa bans and asset freezes on Russian
officials deemed guilty of human rights abuses. The U.S. law was passed
simultaneously with the lifting of the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment,
which had tied trade relations with the Soviet Union to the emigration
of Jews and other Soviet minorities.

“They [the United States] replaced one anti-Soviet, anti-Russian
law with another. They can’t do without it,” Putin said, adding that
Washington’s decision will mar bilateral relations.

The ban on U.S. adoptions has sparked a public outcry among both
officials and civic groups. Critics say the move will strand thousands
of children, especially those with disabilities, in Russia’s outdated
state institutions.

Since 1999, parents in the United States have adopted more than
45,000 Russian children, including 962 last year, according to the
U.S. State Department. Russian officials claim at least 19 Russian
children adopted by Americans have died in that period, Russia’s
ombudsman for children’s rights has said.

TOP TEN ECONOMIC EVENTS OF 2012 SINGLED OUT BY ARKA NEWS AGENCY

1. Armenia’s Success in Doing Business 2012 Rating

In 2012 Armenia reached considerable success in World Bank and
International Finance Corporation’s Doing Business ranking. Armenia
improved its rank by 18 notches here – from the 50th position in the
2011 rating to 32nd in the 2012 rating.

Armenia strengthened protection of investors in 2012 by demanding
shareholders and related entities to present more detailed information
about deals between them in their annual reports and by simplifying
prosecution of high-level managers in cases when such transactions
inflict damage.

Armenia also improved its indicators for a number of categories,
particularly for “Dealing with Construction Permits” (from the 49th
the year before to the 46th now), “Getting Electricity” (from 143rd
to 101st), “Protecting Investors” (from the 98th to the 25th) and
“Paying Taxes” (from 152nd to 108th).

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan instructed the government to
make every effort to see Armenia among top 20 countries in the next
year’s rating.

2. Launch of Free Trade Agreement Negotiation with EU

The 27 EU member countries have unanimously decided on February 29 to
start negotiations on a free trade zone agreement with Armenia. This
agreement will enable Armenia to diversify its exports and to enter
the European market on favorable conditions.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has said Yerevan intends to complete
the negotiations before the Eastern Neighborhood countries’ summit
which will be held in Vilnius in November 2013.

The parties completed the second round of the negotiations in
October after the discussion of the agreement’s ten sections –
trade in goods, competition, technical obstacles to trade, customs,
sustainable development, the intellectual property right, rules
related to goods’ origins, transparency, trade protection methods
and sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

At the third round launched on December 3 in Brussels, all the
mentioned sections were discussed again and four other texts were
discussed as well. Services, government procurement and energy were
among them.

3. North-South Highway

The construction of the North-South Highway was launched in Armenia
in September. Armenia has signed a $500-million loan agreement with
Asian Development Bank to construct this motor road.

The first, $70.4-million tranche of this loan is intended for
reconstruction of a 38-kilometer Yerevan-Ararat section and a
12-kilometer Yerevan-Ashtarak section. Reconstruction of the
Yerevan-Ararat section is under way now.

The second, $179.6-million tranche will be spent on reconstruction
of Yerevan-Talin road.

Japan International Cooperation Agency pledged $50 to 70 million.

The construction of this 556-kilometer transportation link, which will
improve Europe-Caucasus-Asia communication on the Eastern Europe and
Western Asia crossroad, is planned to be completed in 2017.

The goal of the project that has been initiated by Russia and Iran is
to upgrade Armenia’s main corridor road as part of a broader thrust
to improve connectivity, and boost trade, growth and livelihood
opportunities in the Caucasus and Central Asia sub-regions. The
transport corridor will stretch from the southern Armenian town of
Meghri, on the border with Iran, to Bavra in the north on the border
with Georgia. The North-South transport corridor will enable Armenia to
mitigate the effects of the blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

4. New VIP Hall Opens at Zvartnots Airport in Yerevan

A new VIP hall was opened at Zvartnots international airport in
Yerevan in March.

The hall is a part of the new passenger terminal that was opened in
September 2011. The hall that has a separate entrance and car parking
is intended for VIP passengers and members of official delegations.

Marcelo Wende, representative of Corporacion America and CEO of
Armenia – International Airports, said that the new hall can handle
50,000 to 60,000 passengers a year. This is 2% of the total number
of passengers the airport serves every year.

The passenger terminal was opened in September. The opening ceremony
was attended by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

The 34,000 square meter terminal can handle up to 3.5 million
passengers every year instead of 1.6 million before.

The number of tables for passenger check-in, equipped with modern
CUTE technology, has been increased from 21 to 50.

5. Armenian Parliament Ratifies CIS Free Trade Zone Agreement

Armenian National Assembly has ratified the CIS Free Trade Zone
Agreement. Armenian Economy Minister Tigran Davtyan, presenting the
agreement to lawmakers, said the agreement will have positive impacts
on Armenia’s economy and spur GDP growth and exports.

Armenian manufacturers and exporters will not be burdened with
customs duties, and this will contract their expenses and facilitate
procedures.

Armenia is the fourth country after Russia, Belarus and Ukraine that
has joined this agreement.

The CIS Free Zone Agreement has been signed on October 18, 2011 by
eight countries – Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine. Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan have expressed wish to think over the matter.

Along with usual for such agreements provisions on exemption of tariffs
on imports, the parties of the agreement are committed to ensure to
ensure national regime and observe international rules of subsidizing.

This agreement differs from similar agreements in the CIS territory –
it specifies rules for settling disputes and mechanisms of forcing
parties to comply with them.

6. Natural Gas Price Negotiations among top issues under discussion
in 2012

The price for natural gas was widely discussed in Armenia this year.

Rumors about possible rise in gas prices emerged in early July.

According to the rumors going around, 1,000 cubic meters of the natural
gas imported from Russia were expected to cost $280 from October and
$320 from Jan 1 instead of the present $180.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said after he met his Russian
counterpart, Vladimir Putin in Moscow on August 7 that they had
reached mutual understanding on the matter. After that, Armenian
government and Russian Gazprom started negotiating. The results of
these negotiations will be released later this year.

7. Meghri Hydro Power Plant Construction kicks off

A special ground breaking ceremony for the construction of hydropower
plant with a capacity of 130 MW and at a cost of $ 323 million took
place on November 8 in the southern Armenian town of Meghri, on the
border river of Arax separating Armenia and Iran.

According to the agreement, signed back in 2007, the hydroelectric
power plant, which will straddle the border river, will have the
capacity to produce 130 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Construction of
the power plant began simultaneously in Armenia’s Meghri and Iran’s
Qarachilar. Each of these two stations will annually produce 800
million kW / h of electricity. Construction of both stations will
be launched simultaneously to ensure 10-to-15-percent optimization
of expenses.

According to the Iranian minister, the construction will last for
five years.

The generated energy will be shipped to Iran via a 230 KW transmission
line now under construction. After the facility is built it will be
operated for 15 years by the Iranian Farat-Sepasat. The electricity
will be supplied to Iran to pay off the Iranian investment. After 15
years of operation, the hydropower will become the property of Armenia.

Some 2,000 specialists and workers are estimated to be involved in
this construction.

8. Technical Modernization of Sotk Gold Mine Over

GeoProMining, a diversified international mining group, invested $45
million in the technical upgrade of the Sotk gold mine in 2012. This
upgrade will provide for expanded exploration of the Zod field, which
is required as the innovative Albion technology will be launched at
the Ararat gold extraction plant. In 2011-2012 the company purchased
more than 30 units of mining equipment, and built a modernised fuel
and lubricants storage facility and machine maintenance premises.

The new gold extraction line with the innovative Albion technology at
the Ararat plant will help to significantly increase gold extraction
from sulphide-bearing ore from the Sotk mine. The Albion project in
whole is a complex project consisting of several parts: construction
of the new processing line with the advanced technology, efficiency
improvement of the mining operation at the Sotk field and upgrade of
its technical fleet with new equipment.

The newly bought equipment includes excavators to load ore, dump
trucks to transport ore, bulldozers, graders, maintenance trucks, etc.

Most machinery has been purchased from the global producers of mining
equipment Caterpillar and Komatsu this year.

9. Armenian Government Decides to Extend Term of Nuclear Power Plant’s
Operation for 10 Year

Armenian government decided in October to prolong the term Armenian
Nuclear Power Plant’s operation for ten years. Earlier, experts said
the plant may function until 2016.

Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan, grounding on the ministry’s
assessment, said the plant’s life should be prolonged for a decade,
especially taking into account that construction of a new nuclear
unit is estimated to take ten years as well.

Armenia plans to build a new 1,000-megawatt unit. The energy ministry
says the project is estimated to cost $5 billion.

As much as $110 million (own and attracted funds) has been spent on
securing safe operation of the facility.

The Armenian Metsamor nuclear power plant is located some 30 kilometers
west of Yerevan. It started operating in 1976. Only one of its two
units operates now. This 407.5-megawatt unit was commissioned in 1980.

The plant generates approximately 1.2 to 2.5 billion kilowatt/hour
electric power a year (some 45 to 50 percent of Armenia’s electricity).

10. World Bank Marks 20th Anniversary of Its Activity in Armenia

On December 4, the World Bank marked the 20th anniversary of its
activity in Armenia. The WB has invested $1.6 billion in 57 projects
for these two decades.

Now 14 WB-financed projects are being implemented in Armenia now.

In autumn 2012, the World Bank ranked effectiveness of its activity
in Armenia at 7.6 points of 10, the bank’s treatment of clients 8.6
points and personnel’s skills at 8.3 points.

The term of the strategy of partnership with Armenia worked out in
2009 expires in mid-2013.

The WB-allocated funds for supporting the government total $640.6
million (IDA/IBRD).

The strategy of support for Armenia for 2014-2017 will take force on
July 1, 2013. -0-

THE TOPIC OF HERO AND TRAITOR
Haik Aramyan

17:00 20/12/2012
Story from Lragir.am News:

On December 22 the All-Armenian National Movement will hold its
congress. Levon Ter-Petrosyan is expected to make a statement on
the upcoming presidential election. The All-Armenian Movement has
no hint on his decision. It is not a surprise. A force which has
declared itself liberal has never been distinguished for openness
and transparency. Instead, there is explicit authoritarianism and
the will of one person.

This situation deepened as Ter-Petrosyan~Rs force entered into deals
with Serzh Sargsyan, then Ter-Petrosyan. The entire public resource
was exhausted, and Ter-Petrosyan remained alone with his party
nomenclature and Facebook suicide bombers. In this situation, one
cannot consider transparency of decision making. Instead, intrigues,
shaded deals and conjuncture decisions became dominant.

Now Ter-Petrosyan~Rs group is moving towards its ~Shistory-making~T
event. The revelation of the bugged conversation between MPs Levon
Zurabyan and Vartan Oskanian completed the picture ahead of the
congress, evidencing that Ter-Petrosyan~Rs group is fully in the
field of shaded deals.

Will Ter-Petrosyan run in the election? The society has not been
interested in this for a long time now, perhaps only the government
and Ter-Petrosyan~Rs team care for that. The government is interested
because it needs a ~Sstrong~T rival to defeat and gain advantage over
him, thus cleaning away the ~Ssediment~T of the election of 2008. And
Ter-Petrosyan is interested to the extent of staying in politics over
the next 5 years.

The government is trying to block the other ways out for
Ter-Petrosyan. For this purpose the government has removed Gagik
Tsarukyan from the game and revealed the conversation between MPs
Levon Zurabyan and Vartan Oskanian. By the way, Zurabyan says that
Ter-Petrosyan will hardly get 10% without the support of the PAP. In
fact, the government has thus humiliated Ter-Petrosyan and leaves
him no alternatives.

Will Ter-Petrosyan nominate Levon Zurabyan? This question is not
groundless since Ter-Petrosyan has chosen Zurabyan as his heir.

Ter-Petrosyan trusts only Zurabyan and hopes to cling to politics
through him, ruling the group ~Sfrom home~T. In fact, the goal of
Ter-Petrosyan~Rs policy is to bring Zurabyan to ~Sgovernment~T.

Zurabyan lives up to Ter-Petrosyan~Rs expectations. He carries out
clearly the ~Spolitical~T line of his leader the interpretation of
which exceeds any definition of demagogy, has been able to shape a
group of ~Ssuicide bombers~T (they are referred to as zombies in the
social networks) who mess the entire social network and people~Rs
consciousness, trying to discredit everyone who does not fit in this
line and calling them as servants of the regime. Zurabyan has also
removed his competitors from the Congress through crafty intrigues.

Is it a surprise that the ~Snational movement~T has reached this haven?

Perhaps no because a movement is different from political scramble.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan has never been a man of movement, he has always
been good at political scramble. Strange though it may seem, he has
nothing to do with the start and development of the Karabakh movement.

The movement was launched and led to victory by other people. When
the war began, these people went on to organize the war while Karabakh
Committee set to fight for power using the potential of the movement.

Hence, it is not in vain that the Congress states about change of
government. However, there are two ways of change of government,
constitutional and non-constitutional. Everyone knows it is impossible
to change government in Armenia through the constitutional way because
the constitutional and electoral mechanisms are not working. And
the purpose of any movement is to achieve the establishment of such
mechanisms in the country. This is called a revolution.

The other way of change of government which Ter-Petrosyan~Rs group
is allegedly trying to achieve is a ~Schange of government~T through
intrigues and shaded deals. The conversation between MPs Levon Zurabyan
and Vartan Oskanian is evidence to this. This is anti-revolution
~V the goals of the movement and the civil values are sacrificed to
shadow politics and deals.

In fact, this is the greatest favor to the regime, the best service
to its interest for which Ter-Petrosyan accuses others. The regime
is not an individual, the regime is a phenomenon. The same regime
has ruled in Armenia for 20 years, people have replaced each other.

Ter-Petrosyan~Rs group is a full-time member of this regime, the
Constitution and electoral mechanisms, elimination of corruption,
independence of courts are something strange to them because if all
these are present, they will have to face the court. Besides, the
purpose of the regime is to block the way for new people, new ideas
in order to eternize their existence in both government and opposition.

Serzh Sargsyan and Ter-Petrosyan do know the rules of this game.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT URGES CSTO PARTNERS NOT TO SUPPORT ANTI-ARMENIAN INITIATIVES

17:10 19.12.2012

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan called Baku’s position on the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict “destructive” and accused
Azerbaijan of breaching the agreements reached.

“Azerbaijan’s destructive position on the settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict remains a serious threat to the region,” President
Sargsyan said at the sitting of the Collective Security Council of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), RIA Novosti reports.

“Official Baku torpedoes even the agreements on the investigation of
border incidents and withdrawal of snipers from the line of contact,”
he added. According to the President, Azerbaijan is actively
propagating hatred towards Armenians, continues the militaristic
policy and the arms race in the region.

According to Sargsyan, negotiations are the only way for the
resolution of the conflict. “The resumption of military actions
after the truce that has been in force for 18 years now, is a direct
violation of the norms and principles of international la. This is
the most short-sighted way towards a new wave of violence, hatred
and bloodshed,” the President stated.

Serzh Sargsyan reminded that one of the fundamental principles of
the CSTO is the privilege of the relations inside the organization
over the relations with non-member countries, and asked all OSCE
participating states to remember this principle and refrain from
supporting the initiatives that could harm the interests of Armenia.