14:56, 2 May, 2022
YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. The number of detained protesters who are blocking streets in Yerevan grew to 244 as of 14:00, police told ARMENPRESS.
The anti-government protesters are detained for failure to obey the lawful order of the police.
16:06, 2 May, 2022
YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan chaired a consultation today, during which the draft of a new model on assessing the functionality of a person was discussed.
The draft has been submitted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
The meeting firstly touched upon the current system of the assessment of a person’s functionality, the existing problems and shortcomings, the disability examination process, the services provided, the guarantees and the social protection.
It was reported that the new model of changing the disability policy aims at showing a more targeted approach to persons with disabilities, taking also into account the opportunities and capacities of families. Additionally, it is also planned to increase the number of current common social services from 34 to 49, improve their infrastructure and engage new professional capacities.
Thereafter, the meeting participants discussed the roadmap for the introduction of this new model, as well as the results expected from the new system. It was reported that the model has been developed taking into account the international experience.
Summing up the discussions, PM Pashinyan highlighted taking constant steps and providing targeted support to engage disabled people into public life. He tasked to include the proposals and ideas made today into the draft.
Lawyer Arsen Babayan, a senior member of the opposition Homeland Party, urged people to join a big opposition rally to be held in Yerevan on 1 May as part of a protest campaign aimed at toppling Nikol Pashinyan and his cabinet.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Babayan denounced the release of the police officer whose car hit and killed a young pregnant woman, Sona Mnatsakanyan, while escorting Nikol Pashinyan’s motorcade in Yerevan earlier this week.
“Are we going to tolerate the pro-Turkish authorities? Are we going to allow the Turks to make decisions in our homeland? Of course no!” Babayan wrote.
“We have stood up to oust the pro-Turkish authorities and to preserve the Armenian identity. Armenian nation, stand up! We are going to get rid of them once and for all. Let’s all gather at France Square on May 1, at 4pm. The final and decisive stage [of the protest campaign] is starting,” he said.
ArmInfo. The European People’s Party (EPP) has issued a statement on the 107th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
The statement reads:
“We commemorate the Armenian Genocide of 1915. We reaffirm the recognition and condemnation of the Genocide and great national dispossession of the Armenian people on the eve of its 107th Anniversary.
“We join and strongly support the commitment of Armenia and the Armenian people to continue the international struggle for the prevention of genocides, the restoration of the rights of people subjected to genocide and the establishment of historical justice. We invite Turkey to take the necessary measures pursuant to its international commitments to recognize and to condemn the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire and to face its own history and memory through commemorating the victims of that heinous crime against humanity.
“We strong believe that such move will promote long-lasting peace, stability and human rights in the whole region”
15:58,
YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS. The United States is preparing provocations to accuse Russia of using chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons, ARMENPRESS reports, TASS informs, referring to the statement of the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Kirilov.
“The Russian Defense Ministry has information that the United States is preparing provocations to accuse the Russian armed forces of using chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons,” Kirilov said.
Kirilov reminded that on February 27, US Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the intention of the Russian Federation to use chemical and biological weapons “under a false flag” to intimidate the Ukrainian population and the world.
“We draw your attention to the fact that the United States has implemented such projects more than once to achieve political goals. The most striking example of an information provocation is the February 5, 2003 speech of US Secretary of State Colin Powell,” Kirilov said.
He also stressed that the State Department has already appointed officials responsible for conducting the investigation.
10:41,
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, ARMENPRESS. The death toll in the Philippines from the landslides and flooding caused by tropical storm Megi that hit on April 10 rose to 224, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said, adding that 147 more are missing.
221 deaths were recorded in the central Philippines and three in the southern Philippines.
An unknown person alerts about bomb on the plane fling from Yerevan to Moscow
19:16,
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, ARMENPRESS. On April 21, at 4:10 pm, the Police received an alert about a bomb on the plane of the Yerevan-Moscow flight, ARMENPRESS reports the press servic eof the Police informed.
According to the Police, the alarm was received before the flight, and at the moment they are carrying out inspections.
18:16,
YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin stated that there are still many issues over Nagorno Karabakh, the correspondent of ARMENPRESS informs Putin said during the meeting with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who is on a two-day official visit to the Russian Federation.
“Of course, our focus will be on security issues, including those related to Karabakh. I agree with you, there are many issues left. We are in constant contact with you, if not every week, then we definitely have a telephone conversation every 10 days. And we have regular meetings, even though it is a period of pandemic. I am glad to see you, welcome,” Putin said.
The Russian President noted that Armenia and Russia have signed over 200 documents, which create a good opportunity to work in almost all spheres, the most significant of which is the economic sphere.
“According to our data, in 2021 the growth of the trade turnover was 12.8%. In the first months of this year it has increased by 50%. It is a very good indicator in this period,” Putin concluded.
15:19, 4 April, 2022
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. It’s already the 10th day the surrounding of the Armenian village of Parukh in Artsakh is illegally occupied by Azerbaijan, journalist Jean-Christophe Buisson, who is the deputy director of the French La Figaro Magazine, said on Twitter.
“Hundreds of villagers, including children, still live far from home. But the Azerbaijani army is not withdrawing its forces. Moreover, it strengthens its positions”, the journalist said.
Member of the Senate of France, vice-chair of the France-Armenia friendship group Valérie Boyer shared the post of journalist Jean-Christophe Buisson on Twitter and reminded that during the 2020 large-scale aggression Azerbaijan, with the support of Turkey, massacred the Armenians of Artsakh through Turkish bombs, white phosphorus and drones.
“The genocidal spirit has awakened in them. And the world is silently watching without doing anything. Encroachments continue in an atmosphere of indifference”, Valérie Boyer said.
ArmInfo. The talks of the Armenian authorities about peace with Azerbaijan, if they are not accompanied by concrete steps towards the strengthening of Armenia, are a false category. Political scientist Robert Ghevondyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
“We certainly need to talk about peace. But we need to prepare for war. We spoke and prepared for peace back in 2019-20. As a result, the enemy prepared for war and won it. In this light, Prime Minister Pashinyan, of course, has to talk about peace, simultaneously acting towards the formation of real mechanisms for ensuring it, intensively arming the army, creating new opportunities for ensuring security, etc. As far as I understand, all this is not being done, while without it, only talks about the peace has no basis, respectively, prospects,” he said.
According to Ghevondyan, all this is especially urgent, against the backdrop of the Aliyev regime initiating more and more provocations in Artsakh. In his opinion, the situation around the village of Parukh is another, not the first and the last, provocation of Azerbaijan as part of its policy of creeping aggression. Especially against the background of the fact that Aliyev does not hide his own goals in the direction of de- Armenization and the final capture of Artsakh.
In this light, not seeing flaws in the performance of their own duties by Russian peacekeepers, the political scientist determines the current situation in Artsakh by the effective use by Azerbaijan of the opportunities that have opened up as a result of Ukraine and all related processes. In this light, Ghevondyan recalled that another Azerbaijani provocation followed the fact that a month ago the Armenian delegation abstained vote on Ukraine in the UN. The latter, in his opinion, means that Baku actively uses every opportunity, while the Armenian side, as a rule, does not.
“There is only one way out – Armenia must actively arm itself, strengthen its own security. Only this will force Azerbaijan to fulfill its own obligations. Moreover, it will allow us to sometimes go beyond our own obligations when necessary, forcing Baku to act already in our status. A show of force is the only way out to which we resort, as happened the other day in Khramort. But we resort extremely rarely. As for Artsakh specifically, Yerevan has no actual leverage on the situation there. However, Armenia remains one of the beneficiaries of the security of Artsakh residents by Russian peacekeepers. In this light, it may moreover must turn to Moscow demanding the fulfillment of its obligations. Otherwise, for example, it can be proposed to replace the Russian contingent in Artsakh with an international one. “It is clear that in the current geopolitical realities it will be quite difficult to do that, but it does not eliminate the need for action at all,” the political scientist concluded.