Author: Boshkezenian Garik

 12:38,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Pambukhchyan says they have the sufficient number of firefighter-rescuers and equipment for the efforts in the ongoing firefighting and search and rescue operation at the Surmalu market in Yerevan.

He said the search and rescue operation continues intensively and more equipment will be deployed in an hour. “We are unable to do simultaneous actions because there are people under the rubble, we really hope they are alive,” Pambukhchyan said.

“We are carrying out our objective in cooperation with every ministry,” he added.

The remaining part of the exploded building could collapse, he warned.

Rescuers are now neutralizing the dangers coming from the standing pillars. Those trapped under the rubble could be under these pillars, Pambukhchyan said.

He said that the victims and injured people include both employees of the market and visitors. Most of the victims are visitors of the trade center.

Asked about the cause of the explosion, Pambukhchyan said that the law enforcement agencies will give the answer. “We can’t give an assessment, our function is to put out the fire and carry out search and rescue operations, and we bear the entire responsibility for doing that,” he said.

 19:15,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS. The number of victims of the fire and explosion that took place on August 14 in Yerevan’s “Surmalu” shopping center has reached 7, ARMENPRESS reports the spokesperson of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Hayk Kostanan informed on his “Facebook” page.

“A while ago the rescuers discovered another body.

At the moment, there are 7 victims.

Search and rescue works continue”, he wrote.

The number of missing persons is 21, 5 of which are citizens of Iran and one is a Russian citizen. !3 citizens are still in hospitals.

 11:17,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 12, ARMENPRESS. The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Station’s cooling pool equipment was damaged as a result of shelling from the Ukrainian military, the Russian Ministry of Defense said. It added that crucial infrastructure is unharmed, Interfax reports.

Head of the National Defense Management Center of Russia Mikhail Mizintsev said at a press briefing that the Ukrainian military detachments from the 44th artillery brigade used 152mm guns to shell the nuclear power station from the Nikopol settlement.

He said that the reactors were not disrupted and the crucial infrastructure of the plant was unharmed because of the skilled and effective actions taken by the Russian military.

 11:22, 4 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenia expects that any attempt to breach the line of contact in Nagorno Karabakh will be thwarted by the Russian peacekeeping contingent, and that the Azerbaijani military detachments located inside from the line of contact will be withdrawn, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

“A number of institutional issues exist in relation to this issue. Namely, point 3 of the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement clearly says that a line of contact exists in Nagorno Karabakh and the Russian peacekeepers are deployed along it. This is the area which is called the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in NK. We expect that any attempt to cross the line of contact will be thwarted by the Russian peacekeeping contingent, and that the Azerbaijani military detachments located inside from the line of contact will be withdrawn,” the Armenian PM said.

Speaking on the Russian peacekeeping contingent’s mandate, which Azerbaijan refuses to sign, the PM said that the signatures of Armenia and Russia are sufficient to fully implement this mandate.

“If not, then it is necessary to take measures to approve this mandate internationally or give a wider international mandate to the peacekeepers. I don’t want to open up too many working details now, but we’ve been concerned about these issues since November 2020, we’ve made efforts to achieve concrete solutions and now these efforts must be doubled and tripled,” the PM said.

On August 3, two Artsakh soldiers were killed and 19 others were wounded when Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire and launched an attack on Artsakh military positions. The Azerbaijani military used mortars, grenade-launchers, combat UAVs in attacking a permanent deployment location of an Artsakh military base.

 10:45, 5 August 2022

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS. President of France Emmanuel Macron is closely following the developments in the South Caucasus, the French presidency said in a statement.

According to the statement, President Macron talked over the phone with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and “called for everything to be done to avoid an escalation and to give full scope to negotiations with Armenia.”

“[President Macron] expressed his concern over the serious incidents that have occurred in recent days, particularly in the area of the Lachin corridor. He called for everything to be done to avoid an escalation and to give full scope to negotiations with Armenia. He stressed the importance of respecting the commitments made under the ceasefire agreement of November 9, 2020,” the French presidency said.

“France remains in close contact with the parties and with its partners in order to continue to support and contribute to efforts in favor of dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan and for stability in the region.”

The Elysee Palace also noted that President Macron had a phone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan the day before as well.