Author: George Mamian

                                        Tuesday, 
More Charges Brought Against Former Amenian PM
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian chairs a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 
16Jun2016.
Armenian law-enforcement authorities brought more criminal charges against 
former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian on Tuesday after moving to confiscate a 
large part of his big fortune.
Abrahamian, who served as prime minister from 2014-2016, was charged with abuse 
of power and illegal entrepreneurial activity in September 2018. The accusations 
denied by him stem from allegations by a businessman that in 2008 Abrahamian 
forced him to give up a majority stake in his sand quarry located in Armenia’s 
Ararat province.
Abrahamian was the chief of then President Serzh Sarkisian’s staff at the time. 
His brother Henrik and a relative of then Ararat Governor Alik Sargsian each 
bought 30 percent stakes in the sand quarry at a knockdown price.
The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) announced that as part of the same criminal 
investigation it also charged Abrahamian with money laundering. It claimed that 
he did not declare 230 million drams ($590,000) in “illegal revenue” obtained 
from the quarry and used it for buying real estate and other transactions.
The law-enforcement agency did not explain why it took investigators so long to 
file the additional charges and why the ex-premier has still not gone on trial 
nearly five years after his first indictment.
Abrahamian and his lawyers could not be reached for comment.
The 64-year-old is a native of Aarat who used to hold sway in the region south 
of Yerevan, developing extensive business interests there before holding senior 
state positions. He fell out with Serzh Sarkisian shortly after being sacked as 
prime minister in 2016.
Prosecutors recently asked an Armenian court to confiscate 21 billion drams ($54 
million) in cash and 59 properties belonging to Abrahamian or his family, saying 
that these assets were acquired illegally. Court hearings on the suit have yet 
to start.
Azeri Soldier Accused Of Murder In Armenia
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia-Armenia - A screenshot of video of Syunik residents apprehending an 
Azerbaijani soldier, April 13, 2023.
One of the two Azerbaijani soldiers detained in Armenia last week was charged on 
Tuesday with killing an Armenian man.
The 56-year-old Hayrapet Meliksetian worked as a security guard at a waste 
disposal facility of Armenia’s largest mining company located in southeastern 
Syunik province. He was found shot dead on April 12 several kilometers from 
where the Azerbaijani soldier, Huseyn Akhundov, was caught the following day.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General said that Akhundov committed the murder in 
a failed attempt to steal the guard’s car and flee to neighboring Iran. It 
claimed that the car did not start and Akhundov fled the scene before using the 
victim’s mobile phone to record a video in which he bragged about killing 
Armenians and said “we are not traitors of our fatherland.”
The video posted on social media was widely circulated by Armenian media outlets 
shortly after several Syunik residents apprehended Akhundov on a highway near 
the provincial capital Kapan. The soldier was apparently unarmed during his 
detention.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service earlier on Tuesday, Narek Ghahramanian, a 
Kapan-born parliamentarian affiliated with the ruling Civil Contract party, said 
that Akhundov confessed to the murder. Ghahramanian suggested that investigators 
are looking for his weapon.
The second Azerbaijani serviceman, identified as Akshin Bebirov, was detained on 
April 12 in a Syunik village located about 100 kilometers northwest of Kapan. 
According to the Armenian military, he claimed to have crossed the Armenian 
border with Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave together with another soldier 
believed to be Akhundov.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on April 12 that they deserted their army 
unit in Nakhichevan because of “being subjected to hazing and humiliation by 
other soldiers.”
The Azerbaijani government demanded the immediate release of both servicemen 
charged with illegally crossing into Armenia. It did not immediately react to 
the murder charge brought against Akhundov.
Sargis Khandanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on foreign 
relations, indicated that given the accusations leveled against them Yerevan 
does not intend to swap Akhundov and Bebirov for any of at least 33 Armenian 
soldiers who were taken prisoner during or after the 2020 Karabakh war and 
remain in Azerbaijani captivity.
“Armenia is not planning to make any concessions on this matter,” Khandanian 
told reporters.
Pashinian Reaffirms Recognition Of Azerbaijan’s Territorial Integrity (UPDATED)
        • Nane Sahakian
        • Lusine Musayelian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian prepares to address the parliament, 
Yerevan, .
Armenia unequivocally recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and is ready 
to sign a relevant peace treaty with Baku, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said 
on Tuesday.
“The peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will become realistic if the 
two countries recognize clearly, without ambiguities and pitfalls, each other's 
territorial integrity and undertake not to ever submit territorial claims to 
each other,” Pashinian told the Armenian parliament.
“I now want to reaffirm that Armenia fully recognizes the territorial integrity 
of Azerbaijan and we expect Azerbaijan to do the same by recognizing the entire 
territory of the Armenian [Soviet Socialist Republic] as the [modern-day] 
Republic of Armenia,” he said.
Pashinian already vowed such recognition in a joint statement with Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Union 
chief Charles Michel issued after their meeting held in Prague last October. The 
statement upheld a 1991 declaration in which Armenia and other newly independent 
Soviet republics recognized each other’s Soviet-era borders.
This was due to be at the heart of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty promoted 
by the West. Pashinian publicly backed such a deal ahead of the Prague summit, 
stoking Armenian opposition claims that he is ready to help Baku regain full 
control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov likewise said in December that Pashinian 
effectively recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh at Prague. Lavrov 
said the Armenian leader thus all but precluded a different peace deal favored 
by Moscow. It would indefinitely delay an agreement on Karabakh’s status.
An Armenian opposition lawmaker, Artur Khachatrian, challenged Pashinian on 
Tuesday to clarify his position on Karabakh’s future status. The prime minister 
gave no clear answer, saying only that there needs to be an “international 
mechanism” for direct talks between Baku and Karabakh’s leadership.
In April 2022, Pashinian sparked angry opposition protests in Yerevan when he 
signaled readiness to “lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status acceptable to 
Armenia. He and other Armenian officials also stopped making references to the 
Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination in their public statements.
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party pledged to continue championing the principle 
of self-determination in its 2021 election manifesto.
Artsvik Minasian, another opposition lawmaker, accused the Armenian government 
of not honoring that pledge and thus calling its legitimacy into question.
Meanwhile, Aliyev said that Armenia’s leadership now “agrees in principle” with 
his position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. Still, he said, Pashinian 
should go farther and declare that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.”
In an interview with Azerbaijani state television aired on Tuesday, Aliyev also 
renewed his threats of fresh military action against Armenia, saying that 
Azerbaijan is strengthening its army because it “must be ready for any 
situation.”
Aliyev went on to again rule out any internationally mediated talks with 
Karabakh representatives. Karabakh Armenians should accept Azerbaijani 
citizenship or leave the territory, he said.
“The separatists have to realize that they have two options: either they will 
live under Azerbaijani rule or leave,” added Aliyev.
Senior U.S. Diplomat Visits Armenia
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets US Deputy Assistant Secretary of 
State Erika Olson, Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met on Tuesday with a visiting senior official 
from the U.S. State Department for talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and 
U.S.-Armenian relations.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Erika Olson met with other senior Armenian 
officials in Yerevan on Monday. The U.S. Embassy in Armenia said at the start of 
her trip that she will discuss “U.S. support for an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace 
agreement and U.S.-Armenian bilateral ties.”
In a statement, Pashinian’s press office said the normalization of 
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations was on the agenda of his meeting with Olson. It 
said they also touched upon Azerbaijan’s continuing blockade of Karabakh’s land 
link with Armenia and “the creation of an international mechanism for dialogue 
between Baku and Stepanakert.”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov accused Yerevan on Monday of 
hampering Baku’s efforts to “reintegrate” the Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijan 
in a phone call with another U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, Dereck 
Hogan. According to Azerbaijani news agencies, Hogan stressed the importance of 
“successfully completing the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process.”
Earlier on Monday, Bayramov met with Louis Bono, a U.S. special envoy for 
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. Bono visited Armenia last week.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mediated talks between Pashinian and 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on February 18 on the sidelines of the Munich 
Security Conference. Blinken had separate phone conversations with the two 
leaders late last month.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.orgMore Charges Brought Against Former Amenian PM

                                        Tuesday, 
Karabakh Leaders Propose Fresh Talks With Baku
        • Nane Sahakian
Nagorno-Karabakh -- The parliament building in Stepanakert, September 7, 2018.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership on Tuesday offered to hold fresh Russian-mediated 
talks with Azerbaijan on “humanitarian issues” stemming from the continuing 
Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor.
It said the talks should take place at the headquarters of Russian peacekeeping 
forces stationed in Karabakh.
“The humanitarian issues include the restoration of electricity and gas supplies 
[to Karabakh] and the unblocking of the corridor,” Artur Harutiunian, a senior 
Karabakh lawmaker, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The commanders of the peacekeepers most recently hosted such talks on March 1. 
The Azerbaijani government afterwards twice invited Karabakh’s representatives 
to Baku for talks on the Armenian-populated region’s “reintegration” into 
Azerbaijan.
The authorities in Stepanakert dismissed the offer. They said Azerbaijani and 
Karabakh officials should first and foremost discuss the reopening of the sole 
road connecting Karabakh to Armenia. They also insisted on an “internationally 
recognized negotiation format” for a broader political settlement of the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
Baku did not immediately respond to Stepanakert’s proposal which is understood 
to have been communicated to it through the Russian peacekeepers.
Metakse Hakobian, a Karabakh opposition figure, was skeptical about the 
proposal. Hakobian argued that Baku further tightened the road blockade and 
again blocked Armenia’s gas supplies to Karabakh following the March 1 meeting.
The United States, the European Union and Russia have repeatedly urged 
Azerbaijan to unblock traffic through the Lachin corridor in line with the 
Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. Baku 
has rejected those calls, saying that Azerbaijani government-backed protesters, 
who occupied a section of the road on December 12, are right to demand an end to 
“illegal” mining in Karabakh.
On February 22, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the Azerbaijani 
government to “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of 
persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.”
Deadly Fighting Erupts On Armenia-Azerbaijan Border (UPDATED)
        • Tigran Hovsepian
        • Susan Badalian
        • Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - A new Azerbaijani army post outside the village of Tegh, April 4, 2023
At least three Azerbaijani and four Armenian soldiers were killed on Tuesday in 
fresh fighting that broke out on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said that its troops came under Azerbaijani fire 
late in the afternoon as they fortified their positions outside Tegh, a border 
village in southeastern Syunik province. It said they returned fire.
The skirmishes left four Armenians soldiers dead and six others wounded, 
according to the ministry.
Tegh residents told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the fist exchange of 
automatic gunfire lasted for about 30 minutes.
The Defense Ministry said about an hour later that the fighting resumed and 
intensified, with Azerbaijani forces using mortars. “Armenian army units are 
taking necessary defensive measures,” it said in a short statement.
An RFE/RL reporter heard explosions and automatic gunfire when he approached 
Tegh around that time.
In another update, the ministry said the situation in the area was “relatively 
stable” as of 8:30 p.m. local time.
The Azerbaijani military blamed the Armenian side for the deadly fighting and 
said it is taking “adequate retaliatory measures.” It acknowledged three combat 
deaths in the Azerbaijani army ranks.
Fighting was also reported from another section of the long border. The 
authorities in Yerevan did not confirm those reports.
Residents of Sotk, a border village in Armenia’s eastern Gegharkunik province, 
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that workers of a nearby gold mine were evacuated 
following cross-border fire from Azerbaijani army positions. One of those 
workers, who did not want to be identified, confirmed the information.
The clashes began in a border area where the Azerbaijani army took up new 
positions on March 30 after advancing into what Yerevan regards as sovereign 
Armenian territory adjacent to the Lachin corridor connecting Armenia to 
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) claimed on April 1 that the situation 
in the area “improved significantly” after negotiations held by Armenian and 
Azerbaijani officials. Tegh residents countered, however, that the Azerbaijani 
troops did not retreat from any of their newly occupied positions.
The Armenian opposition blamed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government for 
Baku’s fresh territorial gains. Opposition leaders said the Armenian army or 
border guards should have taken up positions along the Armenian side of the Tegh 
border section ahead of the Azerbaijani advance.
Many Tegh residents also blamed the government for what they see as a serious 
threat to their security. Tuesday’s border clashes heightened their fears.
“Don’t they up there [in government] realize that this village is in serious 
trouble?” said one local woman. “Are they asleep in the [defense] ministry? … 
Our hearts are pounding. How can we live like this?”
Commenting on the situation around Tegh, Pashinian said on April 6 that Armenia 
should continue to exercise caution and avoid another escalation. He reaffirmed 
his commitment to his “peace agenda.”
Yerevan Reaffirms Conditions For CSTO Mission To Armenian-Azeri Border
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets CSTO Secretary General Imangali 
Tasmagambetov in Yerevan, March 17, 2023.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) must condemn Azerbaijan’s 
military aggression against Armenia before it can send a monitoring mission to 
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, a senior official in Yerevan said on Tuesday.
Armenia appealed to the CSTO for military aid during the September 2022 border 
clashes which left at least 224 Armenian soldiers dead. Armenian leaders 
afterwards accused the Russian-led military alliance of ignoring the appeal in 
breach of its statutes.
Russia and other CSTO member states proposed such a deployment during a summit 
in Yerevan last November. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian turned down the offer 
on the grounds that they refused to condemn Azerbaijan’s offensive military 
operations along the border.
Moscow has since repeatedly made clear that the offer remains on the table. “The 
ball is in Yerevan’s court,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry 
spokeswoman, said on April 5.
According to Sargis Khandanian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament 
committee on foreign relations, Yerevan is continuing to discuss the proposed 
monitoring mission with its ex-Soviet allies.
“The Armenian side insists that the draft decision [on the dispatch of CSTO 
monitors] must note Azerbaijan’s aggression against Armenia’s sovereign 
territory … before we can talk about the deployment and parameters of the 
mission,” Khandanian told reporters.
Russia, Belarus and Central Asian members of the alliance have still not agreed 
to do so, he said, according to the Armenpress news agency.
The Armenian government has initiated instead the deployment of 100 or so 
European Union monitors to Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan. Moscow condemned 
the EU mission launched in late February, saying that it is part of Western 
efforts to squeeze Russia out of the region.
Earlier this year, Yerevan also cancelled a CSTO military exercise planned in 
Armenia and refused to appoint a CSTO deputy secretary-general, raising more 
questions about the South Caucasus country’s continued membership in the 
organization.
A senior Russian diplomat said late last month that Moscow hopes to end 
Yerevan’s growing estrangement from the CSTO.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.