Thursday,
Armenian Gas Operator Accused Of Tax Evasion
• Anush Muradian
Armenia - The Gazprom Armenia headquarters in Yerevan, 31Oct2014.
Tax authorities have accused Armenia’s national gas distribution owned by
Russia’s Gazprom giant of evading millions of dollars worth of taxes.
The State Revenue Committee (SRC) announced the launch of criminal proceedings
against the Gazprom Armenia operator on Wednesday. The SRC claimed that the
company inflated its expenditures and underreported its earnings in 2016 and
2017. It said that translated into “several billion drams” in unpaid taxes.
No Gazprom Armenia executives have been formally charged yet.
The head of the SRC’s investigative division, Eduard Hovannisian, told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Thursday that tax inspectors are still
“ascertaining” the scale of the alleged tax evasion. “The criminal
investigation has only just started,” he said.
Gazprom Armenia strongly denied the accusations. “I insist that they are
baseless,” its chief executive, Hrant Tadevosian, told a news conference.
“Our company has repeatedly received SRC certificates of a ‘law-abiding
taxpayer,’ most recently in September,” he said.
Tadevosian also accused the government agency comprising the Armenian tax and
customs services of damaging the gas operator’s business reputation. He claimed
that the criminal case has called into serious question Gazprom Armenia’s plans
to obtain a multimillion-dollar loan from a Russian commercial bank.
The SRC brought the tax fraud case amid ongoing negotiations between the
Armenian government and Gazprom on the price of Russian natural gas delivered
to Armenia. The most recent Russian-Armenian gas agreement set the price at
$150 per thousand cubic meters. It expires in December.
The government hopes that Gazprom will cut the tariff or at least keep it
unchanged. The Russian gas monopoly has given no such indications so far.
Pashinian Demands Clean Elections
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 18
October 2018.
Prime Minister on Nikol Pashinian on Thursday told relevant government bodies
to ensure the freedom and fairness of Armenia’s upcoming general elections
which he is expected to win by a landslide.
“We must not just hold the best elections in the history of the Third
[Armenian] Republic. We must hold elections meeting the highest international
standards,” he said at a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
In this context, Pashinian warned against any abuse of government levers that
could influence the election outcome. He said that civil servants, school
teachers and other public sector employees must not be forced to campaign for
any political force, something which was commonplace in past Armenian elections.
Pashinian went on to warn that any election official miscounting ballots or
committing other types of fraud would be strictly punished. He also ordered
law-enforcement bodies to prevent vote buying, which was reportedly widespread
in the last parliamentary elections held in April 2017.
The Armenian police chief, Valeri Osipian, has already promised tough action
against any attempts to hand out vote bribes. He issued similar warnings ahead
of the September municipal elections in Yerevan that were marked by very few
reports of serious fraud.
In their assessment of the 2017 polls won by Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican
Party, Western observers cited “credible information about vote-buying and
pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies.”
Pashinian tops the list of his My Step alliance’s candidates for the December 9
snap elections. The bloc is widely regarded as the election favorite thanks to
the 43-year-old premier’s popularity.
Former Sarkisian Bodyguard Again Arrested
• Arus Hakobian
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (L) and his chief bodyguard Vachagan
Ghazarian, 11 July 2015.
A high-ranking officer who headed former President Serzh Sarkisian’s security
detail for over two decades was again arrested on Thursday almost five months
after being charged with corruption.
Vachagan Ghazarian stands accused of failing to declare to a state
anti-corruption body more than $2.5 million in cash that was mostly held in his
and his wife’s bank accounts.
Ghazarian was obliged to do that in his capacity as deputy head of a security
agency providing bodyguards to Armenia’s leaders. He held that position until
the end of May.
Ghazarian, was first detained on June 25 five days after police raided his
apartment in Yerevan and found $1.1 million and 230,000 euros ($267,000) in
cash there. The National Security Service (NSS) said he carried a further
$120,000 and 436 million drams ($900,000) in a bag when he was caught outside a
commercial bank in Yerevan.
A district court in Yerevan promptly allowed investigators to keep Ghazarian
under pre-trial arrest on charges of illegal enrichment and false asset
disclosure. But Armenia’s Court of Appeals ordered his release from custody on
July 20 after he offered to post a 1 billion-dram ($2.1 million) bail.
The higher Court of Cassation struck down that ruling on Thursday following an
appeal lodged by prosecutors. The Special Investigative Service (SIS), a
law-enforcement body conducting the high-profile probe, took him into custody
later in the day.
Ghazarian’s lawyer could not be reached for comment. The once influential
officer denies the accusations leveled against him. He is the first person in
Armenia facing such charges.
Sarkisian has still not publicly commented on the corruption case against one
of his most trusted men.
Kocharian Risks Renewed Arrest
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian gives an interview to the Russian
NTV channel, Yerevan, 28Aug2018.
Armenia’s Court of Cassation overturned on Thursday a lower court’s decision in
August to release former President Robert Kocharian from custody following coup
charges leveled against him.
Kocharian was controversially arrested on July 27 on charges stemming from the
deadly breakup of opposition demonstrations during the final weeks of his
1998-2008 rule.
He is specifically accused of illegally using the armed forces against
opposition supporters who protested against alleged fraud in a disputed
presidential election held in February 2008. Law-enforcement authorities say
that amounted to an overthrow of the constitutional order.
Eight protesters and two police personnel were killed when security forces
quelled those protests on March 1-2, 2018.
Kocharian strongly denies the accusations, saying that Armenia’s current
government is waging a political “vendetta” against him.
The Court of Appeals freed the 64-year-old ex-president on August 13, saying
that the Armenian constitution gives him immunity from prosecution in
connection with the 2008 violence. Both state prosecutors and Kocharian
appealed against that ruling. The latter claimed that there were also other
legal grounds for his release.
The Court of Cassation, the country’s highest body of criminal justice,
rejected Kocharian’s appeal and only partly met the prosecutors’ demands. It
ordered the Court of Appeals to examine the case anew. This means that the
ex-president will not be held in detention pending another court ruling on his
pre-trial arrest.
Kocharian announced his return to active politics just days after his release
from prison. He has since repeatedly accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
government of endangering the country’s national security, undermining its
relations with Russia and lacking economic programs. Still, he has decided not
run in snap parliamentary elections slated for December 9.
Pashinian, who played a key role in the 2008 protests, has strongly defended
the criminal case against Kocharian. “All murderers will go to prison,” he
declared on August 17.
Press Review
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says the upcoming parliamentary elections will be
significantly different from past Armenian elections not just because there
will be no more vote buying and abuse of administrative resources but also
because they will lack a “political component.” The paper edited by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s wife says that campaign platforms of the election
contenders will hardly of interest to voters this time around. It says this
will be especially true for the former ruling Republican Party (HHK). Also, it
says, Armenians supporting Pashinian’s My Step bloc will not really care about
its election manifesto. They will vote for My Step simply because they “pin
great hopes on Nikol Pashinian,” according to the paper.
“Past” notes that a number of well-known parties have decided not to
participate in the December 9 elections. They claim to be thus giving Pashinian
and his team a chance to live up to the popular expectations. The paper laughs
off these explanations, arguing that none of these parties can win more than 1
percent of the vote at the moment. “These forces and politicians need to
realize that if they give someone a chance then that someone is themselves,” it
says. “By not participating [in the elections] those forces are getting a
chance not to vanish from the political arena and to take part in future
political cycles.”
“Zhoghovurd” reports that Belarus’s ambassador to Azerbaijan has briefed
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on recent developments relating to the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The paper views this as a
further manifestation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s
pro-Azerbaijani stance.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org
Author: Elizabeth Jabejian
Average price for one square meter in apartment blocks in Armenia up slightly in September
ARKA, Armenia
Nov 13 2018
YEREVAN, November 13. /ARKA/. The average price for one square meter in apartment blocks in Yerevan provinces went 0.8 percent up in September 2018, compared with the previous month, the Real Estate Cadastre Committee of Armenia says in its monthly report.
Compared with September 2017, the price rose 10.6%.
According to the report, the highest prices were recorded in Yerevan’s Kentron (Center) district – AMD 452,800 per one square meter, on average, and the lowest price in the capital city’s Nubarashen district – AMD 156,000.
The average price for one square meter in apartment blocks in provinces rose 0.2% in September.
The highest, AMD 285,000 price in provinces was recorded in Tsakhkadzor, a popular resort, and the lowest in Dastakert – AMD 21,400. ($1 – AMD 488.57). -0—
Beirut: Sarraf, Armenian counterpart sign military cooperation agreement
National News Agency Lebanon (NNA)
November 2, 2018 Friday
Sarraf, Armenian counterpart sign military cooperation agreement
NNA – Caretaker Minister of National Defense, Yaacoub Sarraf, held a meeting with his Armenian counterpart, Davit Tonoyan, in the presence of the caretaker Minister of Tourism and Lebanese and Armenian delegations, where a military cooperation agreement was signed between the two parties.
Sarraf welcomed his Armenian counterpart, hoping that the visit would be positive, particularly in terms of activating military cooperation between the two countries. He proposed the establishment of a joint coordination committee to expand the cooperation framework to include other fields such as tourism, trade and culture.
The minister also underlined the “distinguished status enjoyed by Lebanese citizens of Armenian origin in Lebanon,” pointing out that they are “partners in the homeland at all levels.”
Tackling the overall Lebanese situation, Sarraf pointed at the continuation of Israeli aggressions and violations, stressing that “Lebanon is in favor of the language of dialogue and compromise and has no hostile intention towards any party, but will defend its sovereignty and rights when necessary,” he said.
The Minister of Defense reiterated Lebanon’s position on the crisis of Syrian displacement, calling for a radical solution to this issue “because of the negative repercussions of the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon on all the sectors.”
Highlighting the importance of Lebanon as a stabilizing element in the entire region, he called on neighboring countries to “view it as a model for finding solutions to the crises of the region.”
Sarraf also praised the efforts of the Armenian contingent operating within the UNIFIL in southern Lebanon.
For his part, the Armenian Defense Minister said that “the day of signing the agreement is a historic day that paves the way for future agreements,” praising the historic relations between the Lebanese and Armenian peoples.
Two ARF lawmakers skip electoral code vote
Two ARF lawmakers skip electoral code vote
13:54,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS. ARF (Dashnaktsutyun) faction MP Andranik Karapetyan and MP Romik Manukyan did not attend the voting for the electoral code amendments bill today.
The bill once again failed to be adopted.
62 lawmakers voted in favor, two voted against. 63 votes were required for the bill to pass.
The remaining MPs from the 105-seat parliament did not vote.
Parliament records show that Manukyan and Karapetyan did not attend the session. Other MPs from the ARF voted in favor.
All 31 MPs from the Tsarukyan faction, all nine MPs from the Yelk faction voted in favor.
The MPs who had withdrawn from the Republican (HHK) faction also voted in favor.
Republicans who had joined the petition on calling early elections in December 2018 also voted in favor.
Deputy Speaker (HHK) Arpine Hovhannisyan and HHK MP Armen Ashotyan voted against the bill.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
A1+: New appointments of Mayor of Yerevan
Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan has appointed new heads for the Nubarashen, Kentron and Erebuni administrative districts of the city.
Telman Tadevosyan was appointed to serve as head of Nubarashen, City Hall said.
Kentron, the administrative district comprising downtown Yerevan, will be lead by Viktor Mnatsakanyan, City Hall said.
Arman Abrahamyan was named head of the Erebuni administrative district, City Hall said.
Sports: European C’ship: Armenian weightlifters win two more medals
MediaMax, Armenia
Oct 23 2018
Azerbaijani Press: Former U.S. top Karabakh negotiator defends Moscow’s role, criticizes Washington
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Press
October 20, 2018 Saturday
Former U.S. top Karabakh negotiator defends Moscow’s role, criticizes Washington
James Warlick, former U.S. top Karabakh negotiator, urges Washington to step up efforts in supporting certain confidence building measures in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I see no evidence in this [Trump] administration of any interest in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Warlick, currently partner and senior policy adviser at a leading Russian firm Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, said at Atlantic Council in Washington, TURAN’s U.S. correspondent reports.
In fact, he added, “our current representative in the Minsk Group, at least, deserves to have a personal rank of Ambassador as the other negotiators do.”
Andrew Schofer, current U.S. Co-Chair of the Minsk Group, is a career diplomat without ambassadorial rank.
Speaking on Russia’s role in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Warlick said, he doesn’t think it was within Moscow’s power alone to resolve the conflict. “Even if Moscow were to decide tomorrow that NK needs to be settled, I don’t think, it’s going to happen that easily.”
In the meantime, the added, there is an interest – first and foremost in Moscow – not having unstable southern border where there is an active military engagement.
“The conventional wisdom with Karabakh [resolution] has been that Moscow really doesn’t want a settlement… The problem with that conventional wisdom is that it just doesn’t bare itself out,” Warlick said, adding that when the hostilities broke out in 2016, Moscow and Washington “worked together pretty well to come with a plan that could form the basis for a settlement. Those same ideas are still in play. The kind of settlement that, in fact, [Russian foreign minister] Lavrov has suggested is not that different.”
Asked if Moscow is being accommodative and cooperative within the Minsk Group because there is no chance for moving forward given where the parties are, but that Kremlin actually doesn’t want to see a resolution, Warlick disagreed: “If peace were to break out the region would change better,” he argued.
In reply to Turan’s Washington correspondent’s question about Russia’s troublemaker role as a supplier of arms to the conflict sides, Warlick said, he is not going to defend arm sales to Armenia and Azerbaijan by any country but, “there needs to be a concerted effort – not only by Russia – to ensure that there is a rough equivalence between military capabilities of Armenia and Azerbaijan. If there weren’t such a rough equivalence the dangers of war would be high.”
The dangers are high enough as it is. In the meantime, he added, if we see one side or the other prevailing in terms of military capabilities, there could be the risk that in the event of a political or diplomatic stalemate, one side or the other will take military action. We should be worried about that.”
“Even with a rough military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan, I do believe that the sides could be frustrated in the future and come to a conclusion that there can be no resolution through diplomatic channels. That would be unfortunate not only for those two countries but the entire future.”
Does Moscow need to have a positive-sum view of relations with the Western world for NK resolution? Answering to the question, Warlick said it’s a lot to ask that the conflict be settled in terms of more global view of Russia’s role in the world.
“We could work with Russia in a non zero-some game on a path to the settlement. I believe there is an interest in Moscow in supporting certain confidence building measures.”
Former negotiator also urged Washington and Moscow to “work collaboratively on things that can be achieved now, such as confidence building measures, people to people steps…”
“I do think that there is an opportunity to begin a discussion about what a peace keeping force would look like in Nagorno-Karabakh. That discussion hasn’t taken place yet,” he added.
Alex Raufoglu
Washington D.C,
Exhibition: ‘Old and New Yerevan’: Unique photo exhibition dedicated to capital’s 2800th anniversary
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 15 2018
Culture 17:56 15/10/2018 Armenia
A unique photo exhibition dedicated to the 2800th anniversary of Yerevan will open at the capital on Friday, 19 October, to bring to light the city’s history and current life.
The exhibits include the copies of the glass photographs of the city taken by Artashes Vruyr in 1927 from the collection of the Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations SNCO, as well as the old photos of the capital taken from Yerevan History Museum.
The photos will be showcased at Metronome Center in downtown Yerevan, the service told Panorama.am.
They will tell about the architecture, characteristics, buildings, daily life and outstanding personalities of the old and new Yerevan.
The exhibition is organized at the initiative of the Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum-Reservations.
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Francophonie events in Yerevan to kick off on October 7 with the session of the Permanent Council
ArmenPress, Armenia
Oct 6 2018
Francophonie events in Yerevan to kick off on October 7 with the session of the Permanent Council
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The Francophonie events in Armenia will kick off on October 7 with the session of the Permanent Council. ARMENPRESS reports the works will be launched by the Secretary General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), the Chairwoman of the Permanent Council of the Francophonie.
The 35th OIF Ministerial Conference will take place on October 8-9. The official opening of FrancophonieVillageat the Freedom Square is scheduled on October 9, where the participant countries and partners of the OIF will have the opportunity to display the cultural and language diversity of their countries.
The 47th session of the International Francophone Press Union will take place on October 9-12 in Tsakhkadzor. The topic of this session will be “Press and migration”.
In the sidelines of the 17th summit of the Francophonie an economic forum will be organized for the first time on October 10 at Tumo center for creative technologies.
A gala concert will be held at the Republican Square on October 11 at 19:30 the final part of which will be dedicated to world famous chansonnier Charles Aznavour.
The 17th summit of the Francophonie will be held on October 11-12. The election of Secretary General of the organization is on the agenda. The Summit will be held under the theme of “Living Together” “Living together, respecting solidarity, humanistic values and diversity as the basis for peace and prosperity in the francophone area.” Pomegranate has been chosen as the logo of the summit, symbolizing peace and prosperity in the entire Francophonie area.
Yerevan is hosting the XVII International Organisation of La Francophonie summit October 7-12. Armenia is a member of the organization since 2008. The International Organisation of La Francophonie represents one of the biggest linguistic zones in the world. Its members share more than just a common language. They also share the humanist values promoted by the French language. The French language and its humanist values represent the two cornerstones on which the International Organisation of La Francophonie is based. The International Organisation of La Francophonie was created in 1970. Its mission is to embody the active solidarity between its 84 member states and governments (58 members and 26 observers), which together represent over one-third of the United Nations’ member states and account for a population of over 900 million people, including 274 million French speakers.
OIF organizes political activities and actions of multilateral cooperation that benefit French-speaking populations. Its actions respect cultural and linguistic diversity and serve to promote the French language, peace and sustainable development. IOF has concluded 33 cooperation agreements with international and regional organisations and has established permanent dialogue between the major international linguistic zones (the English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Arab-speaking zones).
The IOF has its head office in Paris as well as four permanent representations in Addis Ababa (at the African Union and at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa), in Brussels (at the European Union), in New York and in Geneva (at the UN). It has three regional offices (West Africa ; Central Africa and Indian Ocean ; Asia-Pacific) located respectively in Lomé (Togo), Libreville (Gabon) and Hanoi (Vietnam) and two regional antennas in Bucharest (Romania) and in Port-au-Prince (Haiti). Alongside the IOF, the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie and the four direct operators are responsible for implementing the programs decided at the Summits.
The four direct operators are : the Academic Agency of La Francophonie, TV5Monde, the International Association of Francophone Mayors and The Senghor University of Alexandria. 58 Member States and Governments : Albania, Principality of Andorra, Armenia, Kingdom of Belgium, French Community of Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Canada-New-Brunswick, Canada-Quebec, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, , Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos, Lebanon, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Moldova, Monaco, Niger, New-Caledonia, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Säo Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Vietnam. 26 Observers : Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada-Ontario, South Korea, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan