Wednesday,
Pashinian, Putin Discuss Karabakh In Phone Call
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
during their meeting in Sochi, Russia, November 26, 2021.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed the situation around
Nagorno-Karabakh and other issues in a telephone conversation with Russian
President Vladimir Putin reported on Wednesday.
The transcript of the call released by Pashinian’s press office said that the
two leaders, in particular, discussed the process of implementing agreements
reached by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia and included in their trilateral
statements of November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021.
Pashinian and Putin also reportedly discussed Armenia’s application to the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs, including Russia, for the organization of talks on a
peace treaty with Azerbaijan.
“The leaders of Armenia and Russia exchanged views on the Armenian-Turkish
dialogue, recent regional developments and the situation around Ukraine. Issues
related to the forthcoming official visit of the prime minister of Armenia to
the Russian Federation were also discussed,” the press release said.
In an unrelated development Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hailed the
process of Turkish-Armenian normalization as he hosted his Turkish counterpart
Mevlut Cavusoglu in Moscow on Wednesday.
“We welcome the course towards the normalization of these bilateral ties between
the two neighboring countries,” Lavrov said.
Armenian Opposition Seeks Debate In Parliament On Humanitarian Issues In Karabakh
• Naira Nalbandian
The Armenian parliament in session (file photo)
Two opposition factions in the Armenian parliament have called for a discussion
of humanitarian issues in Nagorno-Karabakh at a regular session of the
legislative body scheduled to begin next week.
Hayastan and Pativ Unem said they are particularly concerned about the situation
in Stepanakert and other areas of the region that for days have been left
without natural gas supplies from Armenia following reported damage on the main
pipeline passing via Azeri-controlled territory.
The situation affects both businesses and ordinary residents in Nagorno-Karabakh
some of whom have to fall back on firewood for heating amid still freezing
temperatures.
Hayastan lawmaker Aram Vardevanian said it is important that Armenia adequately
respond to what he described as a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Since March 8, thousands of our compatriots in Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh – ed.]
have been deprived of the possibility of heating their homes [with natural gas].
Even hospitals have been left without heating. I was in Artsakh a few days ago,
and I saw with my own eyes how, for example, in a children’s hospital where
there are more than 40 patients there is no heating,” the opposition lawmaker
said.
For an urgent discussion on a particular issue its initiators are required to
enlist the support of a quarter of lawmakers. The two opposition factions
together are able to collected the required number of signatures.
Hayastan and Pativ Unem said they want the sitting to be held on March 22 and
have already invited Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Deputy Prime Minister
Mher Grigorian to attend it as co-rapporteurs from the government. The
opposition factions said they have not received a response from the ruling
faction on whether its members will participate in the discussion or not.
The opposition has designated Tigran Abrahamian, a member of Pativ Unem, as the
keynote speaker during the discussion.
“Artsakh is in crisis. We see a problem not only in the current situation. It is
obvious that Azerbaijan will also have the opportunity in the future – something
that it has already shown – to use these tools to influence our compatriots
living in Artsakh and extort concessions on issues related to Artsakh and
Armenia. Officials who are related to this humanitarian situation in
socio-economic or infrastructural terms or should have been in contact with
relevant bodies of Artsakh should also provide an explanation about what steps
they had taken to prevent such a situation,” Abrahamian said.
The pipeline supplying gas from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh was damaged at a
section passing near Shushi (Susa), a town that has been controlled by
Azerbaijan after a 2020 war in the region.
De-facto authorities in Stepanakert accused Azerbaijan of not allowing ethnic
Armenian maintenance workers to approach and repair the damaged pipeline to
restore gas supplies vital for the region.
The lack of natural gas has, in particular, created problems for the work of
bakeries in Nagorno-Karabakh. Power outages are also frequent in the region as
the local grid has to work at its maximum capacity. Ethnic Armenian authorities
suspended classes in schools on Monday because of the absence of heating in
classrooms.
Officials in Stepanakert said on Wednesday that following negotiations held with
the assistance of the Armenian government and Russian peacekeepers Azerbaijan
today began repairing the damaged section of the gas pipeline. They said that
gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh would be restored shortly.
Ahead of his two-day visit to Armenia earlier this week the European Union’s
special representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo
Klaar said that Brussels was concerned over the disruption of natural gas
supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh as well as the latest shootings in the region. The
European diplomat said these issues would “certainly be on the agenda” of his
meetings in Yerevan.
“Obviously, these developments are of concern to the EU. It would be essential
that the gas pipeline is repaired as soon as possible and that the shootings
stop,” Klaar said.
Armenian Government Urged To Take Preventive ‘Anti-Crisis’ Measures
• Artak Khulian
A textile factory in Armenia (file photo)
The Armenian government should implement a full-scale anti-crisis program to
prevent irreversible economic losses, an opposition lawmaker has said.
Tadevos Avetisian, a member of the opposition Hayastan faction, made this
statement in an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service late on Tuesday amid an
admission by the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) that the country’s economy will
significantly slow down this year because of the indirect effects of Western
sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Russia is Armenia’s number one trade partner. Consumer demand in Armenia is also
largely shored up due to remittances wired by Armenian migrant workers in Russia
back home. The depreciating Russian ruble and expected fall in the purchasing
power of the population in Russia may also cause problems for Armenian exporters.
The CBA on Tuesday revised its forecast for Armenia’s annual economic growth in
2022 from 5.3 percent down to 1.6 percent. Martin Galstian, the governor of the
CBA, said that certain problems are currently observed in Armenia’s mining and
processing industries, while the construction sector is also somewhat shrinking.
Tadevos Avetisian
Avetisian said that in such conditions the government should take urgent steps
to prevent the economic situation from further deteriorating.
“It is incomprehensible that the government is not bringing a full anti-crisis
program now, because we are again facing an imminent economic crisis,” the
opposition lawmaker said.
Avetisian, in particular, called for an urgent revision of the state budget in
favor of spending more on anti-crisis measures. “There are numerous programs and
funds that were included in the budget, to put it mildly, for populist motives.
In ordinary conditions those programs perhaps would have been understandable.
But in the current conditions those programs should be revised to provide more
stimulus for the economy,” he said.
Government officials in Armenia have not yet reacted to opposition calls for
‘anti-crisis’ steps. The government is likely to address some of the
difficulties stemming from the global geopolitical and economic situation during
its next session due on Thursday.
Meanwhile, to curb inflation, which stood at 6.5 percent in February, the CBA on
Tuesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 1.25 percentage points – to 9.25
percent.
“In the current situation, the CBA’s governing board considers it expedient to
increase the refinancing rate by a relatively large step,” the regulator said.
The CBA expects that as a result of such policy measures Armenia’s 12-month
inflation will gradually decrease, reaching the target of 4 percent.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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