Author: Boris Nahapetian

                                        Tuesday, 
Former Armenian Police Chief Sacked Again
        • Karlen Aslanian
Armenia -- Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan talks to police Colonel 
Valeri Osipian during a rally in Yerevan, April 29, 2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday dismissed his chief adviser Valeri 
Osipian who headed the Armenian police until last month.
Osipian was given the government post immediately after being sacked as police 
chief on September 18. He reportedly went on a two-week unpaid leave two days 
later.
Pashinian and his office gave no clear explanations for his successive 
decisions to fire Osipian. In a September 18 statement, the police general 
promised to “talk about the reasons for my departure later on.” He has made no 
further public statements since then.
Pashinian named Osipian to run the national police service in May 2018 two days 
after being elected prime minister following weeks of anti-government protests 
led by him.
Osipian was until then a deputy head of Yerevan’s police department responsible 
for public order and crowd control. He personally monitored many 
anti-government rallies staged in the Armenian capital during former President 
Serzh Sarkisian’s rule. Osipian frequently warned and argued with Pashinian 
during the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” that toppled Sarkisian.
During his tenure Osipian repeatedly claimed to have eliminated corruption in 
the police ranks. While not denying this, critics blamed him and the new 
authorities for Armenia’s rising crime rate.
Osipian was sacked as police chief two days after the resignation of Artur 
Vanetsian, the influential director of Armenia’s National Security Service 
(NSS). As he announced his resignation Vanetsian criticized Pashinian’s 
leadership style, saying that it runs counter to “the officer’s honor.” 
Pashinian hit back at him in equally strong terms.
Karabakh Set For Tight Presidential Race
        • Naira Nalbandian
Nagorno-Karabakh - The main government buildings in Stepanakert, September 7, 
2019.
Nagorno-Karabakh will hold early next year a presidential election which is 
expected to be the most democratic, competitive and unpredictable in its 
history.
The Armenian-populated territory’s foreign minister, Masis Mayilian, became on 
Tuesday the latest local political heavyweight to join the unfolding 
presidential race. In a statement posted on Facebook, he pointed to the 
existence of necessary “prerequisites” for the proper conduct of the vote.
Mayilian had unsuccessfully challenged Karabakh’s current president, Bako 
Sahakian, in a presidential election held in 2007. Sahakian is not eligible to 
seek another term in 2020.
Nagorno-Karabakh -- Karabakh Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian speaks to 
reporters in Stepanakert, September 8, 2019.
The other major candidates are Karabakh parliament speaker, Ashot Ghulian, 
Arayik Harutiunian, a former Karabakh prime minister, and Vitaly Balasanian, a 
retired army general and Sahakian’s former top security aide.
Balasanian was sacked in June after strongly criticizing Armenia’s Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian. He has stepped up his verbal attacks on Pashinian 
since then.
Also seeking to enter the fray is Samvel Babayan, who was the commander of 
Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army during and after the 1991-1994 war with 
Azerbaijan. Karabakh law bars Babayan from running from president because he 
has lived in Armenia and Russia since 2004. The once powerful general claims to 
have collected earlier this year over 25,000 signatures of Karabakh residents 
in support of removing that legal hurdle.
Neither Sahakian nor Pashinian has endorsed any of the contenders so far. 
Speaking at an August 5 rally in Stepanakert, the Armenian premier said his 
government will act as a “guarantor” of the freedom and fairness of the 2020 
ballot.
Pashinian described local elections held in Karabakh in early September as 
“free, fair and competitive.” Non-governmental election observers from Armenia 
essentially agreed with that assessment.
Nagorno-Karabakh -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (C), Karabakh 
President Bako Sahakian (R) and Archbishop Pargev Martirosian leave a newly 
built church in Stepanakert, May 9, 2019.
Harutiunian was until recently regarded by some observers as the election 
favorite. The former premier said on Tuesday that his Free Fatherland party, 
the largest in the current Karabakh legislature, will formally nominate his 
candidacy at a November 9 convention in Stepanakert.
“Elections in Artsakh have always been conducted at a high level,” Harutiunian 
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Manvel Sargsian, a Karabakh-born analyst based in Yerevan, disagreed, saying 
that Karabakh election outcomes have always been decided by administrative 
resources abused by establishment candidates. The forthcoming ballot will be 
far more democratic, he said.
“The administrative resources will not work anymore,” said Sargsian. “Why? 
Because those individuals who were sacked [after Armenia’s ‘Velvet Revolution’] 
thought that they still have some influence. These [recent local] elections 
showed that this is not the case.”
Kim Kardashian Reaffirms Desire To Do Business In Armenia
        • Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia -- Reality TV star Kim Kardashian speaks at the World Congress on 
Information Technology in Yerevan, October 8, 2019.
American reality-television star Kim Kardashian confirmed that she is 
considering manufacturing her shapewear line or other products in Armenia as 
she attended on Tuesday an international conference held in Yerevan.
“I’m definitely talking to a few major Armenian investors about hopefully 
trying to figure out a factory for my shapewear and about trying to figure out 
what kind of factories you have that I can manufacture products in here,” 
Kardashian told reporters.
“We are working on that on this trip,” she said. “I have a meeting tonight 
actually to talk about it. That’s something that’s really important to me.”
“I’d definitely love working with Armenian businesses and companies that are 
based out here and my dream would be to open up a SKIMS [shapewear] factory 
here in Armenia and, if not, something else. I really want to,” added 
Kardashian.
Kardashian pledged late last month to explore business opportunities in her 
ancestral homeland in response to an appeal from an Armenian-American lobby 
group which noted that SKIMS items are already produced in Turkey.
The 38-year-old mother of four was visiting Armenia for the second time in four 
years to attend the latest World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT). 
Interviewed on stage by fellow businesswoman Magdalena Yesil, she spoke about 
her social media and business experiences and offered advice to female 
entrepreneurs.
Armenia -- Reality TV star Kim Kardashian walkes on stage during the World 
Congress on Information Technology in Yerevan, October 8, 2019.
Kardashian also said: “When I heard they were holding a tech conference in 
Armenia I couldn’t say yes fast enough. It was the best excuse to come here 
again.”
The two women were later joined by three other panelists, including Alexis 
Ohanian, the Armenian-American co-founder of the Reddit social media platform.
Kardashian, who often states her pride in being of Armenian descent, arrived in 
Armenia together with her older sister Kourtney and their children. The latter 
were baptized on Monday at the main cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church 
located in the town of Echmiadzin.
"No special ceremony has taken place,” said Father Vahram Melikian, a spokesman 
for the church’s Mother See. “Like all other families, they were registered in 
advance and came here as scheduled."
In 2015, Kardashian baptized her eldest daughter, North, in an Armenian church 
in Jerusalem.
Speaking at the WCIT session, she said: “I had to bring my [three] kids because 
just being in Armenia … being able to bring my sister Kourtney, who had never 
been here before, all of our children, and getting the opportunity to baptize 
them yesterday here in Armenia means everything to us. We’ll have these 
memories forever.”
Russian Management Of Armenian Rail Network Under Review
Armenia - A railway bridge in Lori region.
The chief executive of the Russia Railways (RZD) company managing Armenia’s 
railway network met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday to discuss 
the uncertain future of its operations in the country.
RZD runs the network called South Caucasus Railway (SRC) in line with a 30-year 
management contract signed with the former Armenian government in 2007. The 
deal committed it to investing $230 million in Armenia during the first five 
years of operations and another $240 million in the following years. The 
state-run company, which operates Russia’s vast network of railways, claims to 
have honored those commitments.
Law-enforcement officials raided the SRC offices in Yerevan and confiscated 
many documents kept there in August 2018 three months after a dramatic change 
of Armenia’s government. They subsequently launched criminal proceedings 
against the company, saying that it is suspected of large-scale fraud.
RZD and SCR denied any wrongdoing. None of their executives in Armenia are 
understood to have been charged to date.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) meets with Oleg Belozerov, chief 
executive of Russian Railways, Yerevan, October 8, 2019.
Russia’s Deputy Transport Minister Vladimir Tokarev warned last month that RZD 
is considering unilaterally scrapping the 2007 contract because the continuing 
investigation prevents it from “operating normally” in Armenia. “Our arguments 
about compliance with the terms of the contract are ignored,” Russian media 
quoted him as saying.
Earlier in September, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian defended the probe and 
said the Armenian government is “actively” discussing the matter with the 
Russian side.
Pashinian’s office reported few details of his meeting with RZD’s visiting 
chief executive, Oleg Belozerov. It said vaguely that they discussed “prospects 
for making investments and implementing concrete projects in the future.”
RZD did not immediately issue statements on Belozerov’s talks with Pashinian.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” attacks several dozen former officials and public figures who issued 
on Monday a joint statement calling for former President Robert Kocharian’s 
release from prison. The paper extremely critical of Kocharian says their 
appeal is an attempt to “mobilize” groups and individual Armenians that are 
unhappy with last year’s “Velvet Revolution.” It also contends that Kocharian 
has failed to form a broad-based opposition coalition promised by him earlier 
this year. “The public relations campaign has clearly gained more momentum but 
in the political sense there is no united opposition,” it says.
“Hraparak” hails the holding of the World Congress on Information Technology 
(WCIT) and other international events in Armenia. “Even if this congress gives 
Armenia no tangible results in the form of agreements and programs, even if a 
lot of money is spent from our budget on the organization of the congress, any 
person entering the country, be it a tourist or IT professional, will bring and 
take something back with them,” argues the paper. “Not to mention money spent 
by them in our country. Such events and especially the spectacular 
[WCIT-related] concert organized in [Yerevan’s] Republic Square will leave 
their mark on our mindset, worldview and taste.”
“Zhoghovurd” also welcomes the WCIT forum in Yerevan while lamenting the fact 
that global Internet giants such as Google, Facebook or YouTube have no offices 
in Armenia. “These companies tend to have representatives in countries with 
large markets and potential profits,” writes the paper.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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