Author: Jane Topchian

                                        Friday, 
Armenian Government Blamed For Fresh Azeri Territorial Gains
        • Artak Khulian
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Azerbaijani soldiers set up positions near the Armenian village of Tegh, March 
31, 2023.
The Armenian opposition accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government on 
Friday of letting Azerbaijan occupy more Armenian territory after rerouting much 
of the Lachin corridor to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The five-kilometer-wide corridor became Karabakh’s sole overland link to Armenia 
following the 2020 war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement. The 
agreement called for the construction of a new Armenia-Karabakh highway 
bypassing the town of Lachin.
Azerbaijan regained control of the town last August after building a 
32-kilomer-long highway linking up to a new Armenian section of the corridor 
which was supposed to be completed by April 1, 2023. Azerbaijani troops 
redeployed on Thursday morning to more parts of the Lachin district adjacent to 
the Armenian border, blocking the old corridor section.
Armenia’s government and National Security Service (NSS) downplayed the 
redeployment, saying that the new Armenian road leading to Karabakh is already 
passable. However, the NSS also said that the Azerbaijani troops occupied 
Armenian territory in the process.
“In some places, the Azerbaijani side, without waiting for pre-arranged [border] 
adjustments, started to position itself and carried out fortification works,” 
said the statement. “According to the Armenian side’s calculations, there are 
five such points where the Azerbaijani side crossed the border and advanced 100 
to 300 meters [into [Armenian territory.]”
The NSS added that the two sides agreed that their cartographers will try to 
“ascertain the situation.” Armenia is keen “to not allow an escalation,” 
emphasized the security service.
The Azerbaijani forces moved very close to the Armenian border village of Tegh. 
According to local government officials and farmers, they now control a large 
part of the community’s agricultural land and pastures.
One of the Tegh residents, who did not want to be identified, said he discovered 
on Thursday that he no longer has access to his 2-hectare wheat field.
“They [Azerbaijani soldiers] are now uprooting my wheat and digging trenches 
there,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Armenia - A road to Nagorno-Karabakh passing through the village of Tegh.
The development left many in the country wondering why Yerevan did not act to 
prevent the loss of what it regards as Armenia’s internationally recognized 
territory.
Pashinian stressed that the Armenian military did not lose any of its border 
posts in that area.
“The Armenian army had no positions at the border section in question because 
such positions are set up not on the border line but on nearby strategic 
heights,” the NSS said for its part.
Leaders of Armenia’s two main opposition groups dismissed these explanations. 
They said that Pashinian’s administration could and should have prevented 
Azerbaijani from making the fresh territorial gains.
“Clearly, this is a major failure by the Armenia authorities in both the 
political and military fields,” said Seyran Ohanian, a former defense minister 
who now leads the parliamentary group of the Hayastan alliance.
“We have a situation for which the authorities and Nikol Pashinian personally 
are responsible because … the change of the [corridor] route presupposed 
political decisions that were not made,” agreed Tigran Abrahamian of the Pativ 
Unem bloc.
Abrahamian argued that Pashinian’s government itself has repeatedly accused Baku 
of violating Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements and launching military aggression 
against Armenia after the 2020 war.
“Objectively, no Armenian government could have had reason to believe that 
Azerbaijan would honor an oral agreement [reached in August 2022 and cited by 
the NSS,]” he told reporters.
Senior lawmakers representing the ruling Civil Contract party refused to comment 
on the opposition accusations.
Opposition leaders also blamed Pashinian’s government for much bigger 
territorial losses suffered by Armenia during border clashes with Azerbaijan in 
May 2021 and September 2022. They regularly charge that it cannot defend the 
country and rebuild its armed forces after mishandling the disastrous 2020 war. 
Pashinian and his political allies deny this.
Russia Signals Ban On Dairy Imports From Armenia
Armenia - Dairy products at a supermarket in Yerevan.
Russia moved on Friday to ban imports of dairy products from Armenia amid rising 
tensions between the two allied countries.
The Russian government’s Rosselkhoznadzor agriculture watchdog first warned of 
such a measure on Tuesday, saying that Armenian dairy companies use Iranian milk 
and other raw materials banned in Russia. It said that Russia risks importing 
“low-quality and unsafe products” also because of a lack of “proper oversight” 
of those companies’ operations by relevant Armenian authorities.
Rosselkhoznadzor reported on Friday its ensuing negotiations with Armenia’s Food 
Safety Inspectorate yielded “unsatisfactory results.” It said it has therefore 
asked the Armenian state veterinary service to suspend from April 5 mandatory 
safety certifications of all dairy products exported to Russia.
The Armenian government did not immediately comment on the move.
A spokeswoman the Food Safety Inspectorate insisted on Wednesday that the 
Iranian raw materials are safe for consumption. She also told RFE/RL’s Armenian 
that Rosselkhoznadzor’s inspection of some Armenian dairy firms conducted last 
week did not detect “any problem threatening people’s lives and health.”
The Russian watchdog issued its first warning four days Armenia’s Constitutional 
Court gave the green light for parliamentary ratification of the International 
Criminal Court’s founding treaty. The ruling in turn came one week after the ICC 
issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over war crimes 
allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine.
Moscow warned on Monday that recognition of The Hague tribunal’s jurisdiction 
would have “extremely negative” consequences for Russian-Armenian relations.
The Armenian government has still not publicly reacted to the stern warning. 
Still, two pro-government lawmakers stated earlier this week that Yerevan should 
not be afraid of pledging to arrest Putin if he visits the South Caucasus 
country.
Russian-Armenian relations have soured lately due to what Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s administration sees as a lack of Russian support for Armenia in the 
conflict with Azerbaijan.
Dairy products make up a small share of Armenia’s exports to Russia. The Russian 
market is far more important for Armenian exporters of fresh fruits and 
vegetables, processed foods and alcoholic drinks.
Armenian exports to Russia nearly tripled to $2.4 billion last year as a 
consequence of Western economic sanctions against Moscow. The soaring trade with 
and other cash flows from Russia are the main reason why the Armenian economy 
grew by 12.6 percent last year.
Media Figures Dismiss Pashinian’s Press Freedom Claims
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a news conference, March 14, 2023.
Journalists and other media professionals disputed on Friday Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian’s claims that he has consistently strengthened press freedom in 
Armenia during his five-year rule.
“As a former editor-in chief and journalist, I know full well, from my own 
experience, the importance of being able to function without interference from 
the state,” Pashinian told on Thursday a media-related event held as part of the 
U.S.-led Summit for Democracy.
In a video address, he said that his government has put in place “all the 
mechanisms for developing free press as an essential part of true democracy.”
“Armenia is continuously implementing reforms aimed at improving its legislation 
for ensuring better environment for media and journalists to perform their 
professional duties safely and freely,” added Pashinian.
Ashot Melikian of the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect the Freedom of Speech 
countered that in 2021 Pashinian’s administration tripled maximum legal fines 
for “slander,” made it a crime to gravely insult state officials and imposed 
unprecedented restrictions on journalists’ freedom of movement inside the 
Armenian parliament building.
More than 50 Armenians were prosecuted for defamation and hundreds of others 
investigated on the same grounds before the authorities decriminalized such 
offenses under domestic and foreign pressure last year. Many of those criminal 
cases stemmed from offensive comments on Pashinian made on social media or in 
public speeches.
Melikian also said that government, law-enforcement and judicial bodies remain 
reluctant to provide important information to the media.
“It is not accessible,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Often times media 
outlets do not receive information sought by them even after filing numerous 
requests.”
Armenia -- Photojournalists and cameramen at an official ceremony in Yerevan, 
January 10, 2019.
Aram Abrahamian, the veteran editor of the independent Aravot daily, noted in 
this regard that a government bill recently approved by the parliament should 
make it even easier for the authorities to withhold such data from the public.
Abrahamian believes that only the methods of government pressure on the media 
have changed since the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought Pashinian to power.
“The methods have become somewhat more subtle and less crude,” he said. “And I 
prefer these methods. Unlike the former authorities that could simply have 
journalists beaten up, [the current authorities] just say, ‘You’ve bought a 
particular home.’”
Abrahamian referred to Pashinian’s recent reaction to growing media reports 
about personal enrichment of members of his political entourage. The prime 
minister suggested that journalists investigate instead properties bought by 
their bosses.
Earlier this month, hackers hijacked Aravot’s YouTube channel just as it was 
about to publish a video report detailing expensive property acquisitions by 
several senior government officials and pro-government lawmakers. Abrahamian did 
not rule out government involvement in the cyber attack.
Another major newspaper, Hraparak, blasted Pashinian’s “completely false” claim 
that his government “didn’t put any restrictions on media freedom and the 
Internet” even during martial law declared right after the outbreak of the 2020 
war with Azerbaijan.
The government banned at the time any news reports and social media content 
contradicting its official statements on the hostilities. It used heavy fines to 
enforce that ban.
Hraparak also pointed out that the Armenian Ministry of Justice drafted late 
last year legislation that would empower authorities to block access to news 
websites and social media in times of war. The proposed bill prompted serious 
concern from media freedom advocates.
Armenian Opposition Lawmaker Arrested
        • Gayane Saribekian
Armenia - Parliament deputies Vladimir Vartanian (left) and Mher Sahakian.
An opposition member of Armenia’s parliament was arrested on Friday after 
brawling with a pro-government colleague in disputed circumstances.
Eyewitnesses said that Mher Sahakian of the main opposition Hayastan alliance 
punched Vladimir Vartanian, the chairman of the parliament committee on legal 
affairs, during a session of the panel held behind the closed doors. They said 
the violence followed a shouting match between Vartanian and Sahakian and other 
opposition lawmakers.
Vartanian, who represents the ruling Civil Contract party, suffered an injury to 
his left eyebrow and was treated in hospital following the incident.
Meanwhile, other senior pro-government lawmakers called the police. Parliament 
speaker Alen Simonian could be seen giving instructions to police officers and 
security guards in the parliament lobby before they dragged away Sahakian to a 
police station in Yerevan.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said later in the day that Sahakian was placed 
under arrest on suspicion of “hooliganism.” The law-enforcement agency did not 
clarify whether it will bring relevant charges against him.
Armenian law gives it three days to decide whether to indict the 35-year-old 
oppositionist and ask the National Assembly to lift his immunity from 
prosecution.
“We know very well what influence Civil Contract has on the law-enforcement 
system and don’t exclude that they will also raise the issue of his arrest and 
prosecution,” Sahakian’s lawyer, Ruben Melikian, told reporters.
Melikian insisted that his client acted in self-defense, a claim echoed by 
Artsvik Minasian, another opposition parliamentarian who also attended the 
committee meeting. Minasian said that during the meeting Vartanian shouted at 
opposition members of the committee before standing up and walking menacingly 
towards Sahakian.
In a statement, Hayastan’s parliamentary group likewise blamed the incident on 
Vartanian’s “provocative and unbalanced behavior.”
Vartanian said, however, that the assault was unprovoked. He claimed that 
Sahakian and other opposition deputies ignored his “legitimate demands” to stick 
to the meeting’s agenda.
Sahakian’s swift arrest sharply contrasted with law-enforcement authorities’ 
response to violent incidents involving lawmakers affiliated with the ruling 
party.
One of those pro-government lawmakers, Vahagn Aleksanian, approached and kicked 
Hayastan’s Vahe Hakobian as the latter gave a speech on the parliament floor in 
August 2021. Hakobian and five other opposition deputies were hit by a larger 
number of Civil Contract lawmakers in an ensuing melee that was not swiftly 
stopped by scores of security personnel present in the chamber. The authorities 
did not try to prosecute anyone in connection with that incident witnessed by 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
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.
 

                                        Monday, 
U.S. Vows Continued Support For Karabakh Peace Talks
U.S. - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian meet on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly session, New York, 
September 22, 2022.
The United States will continue to facilitate peace talks between Armenia and 
Azerbaijan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian in a phone call on Monday.
In a Twitter post on the call, Blinken said Washington remains committed to 
helping the two South Caucasus nations reach a “sustainable peace.”
“Diplomacy is the only way to peace in the South Caucasus,” he wrote.
“Secretary Blinken thanked Prime Minister Pashinian for Armenia’s continued 
commitment to peace and encouraged concrete steps forward in finding solutions 
to outstanding issues,” said Vedant Patel. “He reiterated U.S. support for 
direct talks and diplomacy to support a lasting and sustainable peace in the 
South Caucasus and stressed that there is no military solution.”
An Armenian government statement on the conversation said the two men discussed 
Azerbaijan’s continuing blockade of the Lachin corridor and the resulting 
“humanitarian crisis” in Karabakh. It said Blinken reiterated U.S. calls for the 
immediate lifting of the blockade.
The statement added that Pashinian expressed concern over “Azerbaijan’s 
increasingly aggressive rhetoric.”
Armenian leaders have repeatedly accused Azerbaijan this month of planning a 
“new military aggression” against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
As recently as on February 18, Blinken mediated talks between Pashinian and 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Munich Security 
Conference. The State Department said afterwards that the European Union’s top 
official, Charles Michel, is due to host another Armenian-Azerbaijani summit “in 
the coming days.” However, no such meeting has been announced so far.
Louis Bono, a U.S. special envoy for Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks, visited 
Baku and Yerevan earlier this month.
Ruling Party Defends High Court Judge Embroiled In Scandal
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - The Armenian government nominates Seda Safarian to the Constitutional 
Court, June 30, 2022.
Pro-government lawmakers rejected on Monday opposition calls for Armenia’s 
Constitutional Court to take action against one of its new members accused of 
having illegally worked as a private lawyer after joining the court in December.
Seda Safarian was one of the two new justices nominated by the Armenian 
government and confirmed by the National Assembly in September. Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian’s administration thus all but completed a purge of the 
Constitutional Court that began in 2020 with constitutional changes condemned by 
the Armenian opposition as illegal.
It emerged recently that on at least one occasion Safarian represented a private 
client in another Armenian court after her election. What is more, she sent 
documents to the Court of Appeals on behalf of the client on December 28, two 
weeks after formally taking over as a Constitutional Court judge.
Safarian denied any wrongdoing when she spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last 
month. She said that she only provided the Court of Appeals with additional 
documents on December 28 and that her actual appeal was filed on December 5.
A group of lawyers critical of the government insisted, however, that Safarian 
violated an Armenian law which bans judges from doing any other paid work. They 
said that the Constitutional Court must take disciplinary action or even 
consider ousting Safarian.
The law allows the Armenian parliament to ask the country’s highest court to 
consider such action. The main opposition Hayastan alliance initiated a relevant 
motion early this month. It was discussed by the parliament committee on legal 
affairs at a meeting held on Monday.
Speaking during the meeting, Hayastan’s Artsvik Minasian echoed the lawyers’ 
arguments and also seized upon their revelation that as of the end of January 
Safarian remained listed on a state registry of “individual entrepreneurs” 
working as lawyers.
“Being listed on the Justice Ministry’s state registry of legal entities is 
sufficient evidence of involvement in entrepreneurial activity,” said Minasian.
Committee members representing the ruling Civil Contract party countered that 
Safarian asked the State Revenue Committee to remove her from the registry late 
last year and earned no revenue after that. She must therefore not face any 
punishment, they said.
Although the parliament panel voted against the opposition motion, it will have 
to be debated on the parliament floor. Even so, the pro-government majority in 
the National Assembly is extremely unlikely to back the proposed appeal to the 
Constitutional Court.
Safarian also raised eyebrows when it emerged that she had her husband appointed 
as her driver right after taking the bench. Critics accused her of nepotism. She 
said that she did not break any laws.
West Accused Of Trying To Drive Wedge Between Russia, Armenia
Russia - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets his Armenian counterpart 
Ararat Mirzoyan, Moscow, .
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West on Monday of trying to 
end Russia’s close relationship with Armenia as he met with his Armenian 
counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan amid unprecedented friction between Moscow and 
Yerevan.
“We see undisguised attempts by Western countries to estrange Armenia from 
Russia … undermine the regional security architecture while thinking and caring 
not about the interests of the countries located here but about their own vested 
geopolitical interests,” he told reporters after their talks in Moscow.
Lavrov also renewed Russian allegations that the Western powers are seeking to 
hijack Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow during and after the 
2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Russian Foreign Ministry similarly claimed last month that the West wants to 
“squeeze Russia out of the region” when it reacted to the deployment of 100 or 
so European Union observers to Armenia’s volatile border with Azerbaijan. By 
contrast, the Armenian government hailed the deployment, saying that it will 
reduce the risk of fresh fighting along the border.
Earlier this year, Lavrov rebuked Yerevan for refusing a similar mission offered 
by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in November. Armenian 
leaders have repeatedly accused the Russian-led alliance of failing to defend 
Armenia against Azerbaijani “military aggression” in breach of the CSTO statutes.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Lavrov, Mirzoyan did not rule out the 
dispatch of CSTO monitors to Armenia’s border areas, saying that CSTO member 
states keep “working” on such a mission.
Armenia - European Union monitors patrol Armenia's border with Azerbaijan, 
February 20, 2023.
Lavrov sounded more optimistic on that score. He also indicated that a planned 
meeting of the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign minister will take 
place soon after all.
The meeting was originally scheduled for the end of December. Mirzoyan cancelled 
it in protest against Azerbaijan’s blockade of the sole road connecting 
Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
The blockade is another reason why Russian-Armenian relations soured in recent 
months. Yerevan has accused Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh of doing little to 
unblock the Lachin corridor.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said last week that if the peacekeepers are 
unable to protect the Karabakh Armenians against Azerbaijani military attacks 
Moscow should ask the UN Security Council to “activate additional international 
mechanisms.” The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, laughed 
off Pashinian’s statement.
Mirzoyan reiterated on Monday Yerevan’s calls for the dispatch of an 
international fact-finding mission to the Lachin corridor. “We hope to cooperate 
with the Russian side on this issue,” he said.
Lavrov did not back the idea. He again urged the conflicting sides to comply 
with the 2020 ceasefire that placed the corridor under Russian control and 
committed Baku to guaranteeing safe passage through it.
The top Russian diplomat was “sincerely satisfied with the results of today’s 
talks” with Mirzoyan.
“We spoke frankly, as befits between friends,” he said. “I am sure that this 
conversation will contribute to the further growth of mutual understanding and 
deepening of ties between Russia and Armenia.”
Russia ‘Still Key Mediator’ Between Armenia, Azerbaijan
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia -- Parliament speaker Alen Simonian talks to journalists, January 12, 
2023..
Russia continues to play the central role in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks, 
parliament speaker Alen Simonian said on Monday.
Simonian said that Armenia and Azerbaijan are specifically using Moscow as their 
main channel of communication on a bilateral peace treaty discussed by them.
“Proposals regarding the treaty are exchanged through various channels and the 
principal way of exchange is through the Russian side,” he told reporters. 
“Russia remains the main actor.”
“But there are also initiatives by the United States, which is quite active, as 
well as France,” he said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
most recently met in Munich on February 18 for talks mediated by U.S. Secretary 
of State Antony Blinken. The U.S. State Department said afterwards that the 
European Union’s top official, Charles Michel, is due to host another 
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit “in the coming days.” There have been indications so 
far that the summit could take place soon.
The U.S., France and Russia had for decades spearheaded the Nagorno-Karabakh 
peace process in their capacity as the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Their 
joint mediation collapsed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has 
since repeatedly accused the West of trying to sideline it and use the Karabakh 
conflict in the standoff over Ukraine.
Aliyev declared at the weekend that he will not sign the peace treaty unless 
Yerevan recognizes Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan and accepts Baku’s terms for 
demarcating the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenians will not live in peace in 
the absence of such an accord, he warned.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry responded by accusing Azerbaijan of laying claim 
to Armenia’s entire territory and “doing everything to make peace in the region 
impossible.” It again claimed that Baku is planning a “new military aggression” 
against Armenia and Karabakh.
Simonian insisted that despite Aliyev’s latest threats the talks on the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal are not deadlocked.
“But this doesn’t serve as a deterrent against another Azerbaijani provocation,” 
he said.
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.