Author: Dabaghian Diana

 10:57,

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. During the night, no significant violations of the ceasefire were recorded on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, ARMENPRESS reports, MoD Armenia informed.

As of 08:30, the situation on the front line is relatively stable.

On May 12, the armed forces of Azerbaijan regularly violated the ceasefire in the areas of Sotk, Kut and Verin Shorzha, using various types of weapons. As a result of Azerbaijan’s aggression on May 12, one soldier was killed and 1 was injured from the Armenian side.

 16:57, 8 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 8, ARMENPRESS. One of the two Azerbaijani servicemen who crossed into Armenia last month and was subsequently arrested and charged with illegal border crossing and arms smuggling was found guilty on all charges by the Syunik Court of General Jurisdiction on May 4.

The Azerbaijani serviceman, Aghshin Babirov, had plead guilty, the prosecution announced Monday. 

Babirov was sentenced to 11 years, 6 months and 15 days imprisonment.

The second serviceman, Hussein Akhundov, is also charged with killing the guard of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine in Syunik. The criminal investigation into Akhundov’s case continues.

 18:55, 1 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers are holding a U.S.-mediated meeting with participation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington D.C.

“Meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov is underway in Washington D.C.,” foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan tweeted.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier held separate meetings with Mirzoyan and Bayramov.

 10:05,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia Major-general Edward Asryan has praised the EU monitoring mission’s work in Armenia.

“Definitely, I highly appreciate the EU monitoring work in the Republic of Armenia. With this work the Azerbaijani military are more restrained. The work is done very well along the borders of Armenia,” Asryan said during a meeting with the French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna in the Armenian town of Jermuk.

FM Colonna also described the cooperation between Armenia and the EU monitoring mission to be very positive. “This work gives positive results for us. It allows us to get information through the monitoring work on the ground that is useful for the EU members. This is a monitoring mission, not an armed mission, the purpose is to monitor the situation, but in any case that presence allows to reduce tension,” the French FM said.

 17:08, 21 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 21, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of European Weightlifting Federation (EWF) Medical Committee and member of the EWF Technical Committee Duun Tryggve has said that the organization of the European Weightlifting Championships in Yerevan has been fantastic and that Armenia can host the championships again in the future.

“It is my first visit [to Armenia]. It is very nice, and [Yerevan] is a very nice city,” he said.

Speaking about the organization of the championships, Tryggve said : “It’s perfect, it is very, very good. We are very satisfied with everything, since we came until now it has been fantastic.”

He said that Armenia can host the competition again.

 14:14,

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian city of Gyumri has been named the 2024 Sports Capital of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the announcement.

“A decision has been made that this year, Minsk will be the Sports Capital of the CIS, and in 2024 it will be the Armenian Gyumri,” Lavrov said at a press conference.

 18:07,

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Vladimir Vardanyan, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on State-Legal Affairs, presented details of the incident that took place at the closed session of the National Assembly, ARMENPRESS reports, in a briefing with journalists, Vardanyan mentioned that on the morning of March 31, a closed working discussion was held at the initiative of the opposition.

“The session of the committee was proceeding normally, at one point the process of discussion was disturbed, the MPs started talking quite loudly and I tried to urge Artsvik Minasyan and the rest of the MPs to return to the substantial discussion. After that, in response to my legitimate demand, MP Mher Sahakyan said that I cannot raise my voice against them, and I said that I was conducting the session and continue to conduct it. He approached me (we were already standing) and attacked me without saying anything, hit me and ran away,” said Vardanyan.

The Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on State-Legal Affairs emphasized that he did not take any actions against MP Mher Sahakyan and remained in the place where he was standing.

“All those who know me will prove that in the 7th and 8th convocations of the National Assembly I was always the person who tried to lead difficult situations to a compromise solution. If the normal course of the session was disturbed, we interrupted the session or tried to find solutions. This time the incident lasted for a minute and, in fact, I performed my legitimate functions. I have not taken any measures against MP Mher Sahakyan and I could not. “Mher Sahakyan approached me and hit me without saying anything,” Vardanyan said.

According to Mher Sahakyan, as a result of the blow, a rather significant cut occurred in the eyebrow area. Vardanyan does not rule out that the blow was made with some kind of tool.

“It was quite a hard blow. I haven’t passed the forensic examination yet, I will probably do it tomorrow,” concluded Vardanyan.