16:31, 29 April, 2022
YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. The maintenance work on the pipeline supplying gas to Stepanakert City of Artsakh that was launched on April 27 has been completed and the supply will be restored today on April 29, ArtsakhGas said in a statement.
Ukrainian Defense Intelligence has accused Georgia, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan of negotiating with Moscow over the reexport of Russian products to international markets.
“The supply is planned to be made in the form of Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani products and export them to third countries,” the Defense Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said on May 1.
It asserted that more than 200 companies have already been established in the South Caucasian countries.
The Ukrainian defense intelligence further stated that Armenia creates favorable conditions for Russian companies to do business, especially in the IT sphere.
“Since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine, some 85,000 Russian citizens and 113 IT companies came to Armenia,” it noted.
“Russian citizens created nearly a thousand private enterprises and about 250 limited liability companies on the territory of Armenia, which pay taxes to the budgets of both countries — Armenia and Russia.”
Earlier in April, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry Intelligence alleged that Moscow was establishing a channel for smuggling through the Georgian territory, an accusation denied by the Georgian authorities. It said Georgia’s political leadership instructed security services not to interfere with the activities of Russian smugglers.
The State Security Service of Georgia then urged Ukraine to “immediately relay evidence” on its claim, warning that the failure to do so “will be considered premeditated disinformation.”
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili also rebuffed Kyiv’s allegations, saying “Georgia will never allow the transit of sanctioned goods.”
But the Georgian Government has reiterated since the early days of the war that Tbilisi would not impose bilateral sanctions against Moscow, hit by massive international sanctions.
Ukraine’s renewed accusation comes amid already strained relations between Tbilisi and Kyiv, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled Ambassador from Georgia over the “immoral position” of Garibashvili’s cabinet on “not joining” sanctions and for barring Georgian volunteers from flying to Ukraine.
Amid growing criticism from Kyiv, Georgian Dream leadership has repeatedly claimed that former United National Movement officials “occupying some quite high positions in Ukraine” are influencing the decisions of the Ukrainian authorities.
13:41,
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament of Armenia, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Relations and member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Eduard Aghajanyan delivered a speech at the PACE spring session.
In his remarks, Aghajanyan said that Azerbaijan exploited the fact that the international community was pre-occupied with the Ukrainian crisis and undertook blatant actions in breach of European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Below is the full speech:
Unfortunately, as one could anticipate, Azerbaijan took advantage of the total preoccupation of international community with the Ukrainian crisis, undertaking blatant actions in breach of European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
More specifically, based on the Government’s request, the European Court of Human Rights indicated interim measures by calling on Azerbaijan to refrain from actions that would contribute to breaches of civilians’ Convention rights and to respect their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Despite the foregoing, even after the indication of the interim measures by the Court, Azerbaijan has continued to violate its obligations under the Convention.
As such, Since February 2022, Azerbaijani armed forces have continuously terrorized the population of the bordering villages of Artsakh through various criminal acts of physical threat and psychological pressure, through direct, threatening and intimidating statements addressed to the civilian population using loudspeakers. In regularly played statements the population of bordering villages are being told to stop farming and leave their homes, otherwise being threatened by physical reprise of their families.
During the same period, On March 7, the gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh was disrupted, leaving over 150,000 people without heating, with 1.5 meters of snow on the ground and at an unprecedented freezing condition.
With much international pressure, Azerbaijan restored the gas supply on March 19 only to cut it out again after 2 days.
Dear colleagues, all of the abovementioned is a classical example of an act of ethnic cleansing. And while on international platforms, Azerbaijani officials often state that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is over and that Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh can live peacefully in their homes, on the ground Azerbaijan is attempting to force a final round of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, taking advantage of international community’s distraction by the Ukrainian crisis.
Despite this, Armenia remains committed to an agenda of peace in the South Caucasus and sees the final and peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.”
15:05,
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. For already a year, Robin the Robot – the first Armenian AI-based robot which was notably named as one of 2021’s best innovations by TIME magazine – companioned the residents at Yerevan’s Nork Nursing Home to improve the well-being of the elderly as part of the Alzheimer’s Care Armenia (ACA) project.
ACA Chairman & Founder Dr. Jane L. Mahakian, a Clinician and Gerontologist, said that the project was a success.
“We tried to improve the emotional, psychological and cognitive functions of the residents of the Nork Nursing Home with the use of the emotional support robot,” Dr. Mahakian said at an event on the completion of the project. “And this was a very successful project, the robot was asking them questions, suggesting their favorite movies and songs, and thanks to this they are able to train their memory. And they began to smile more often because the robot makes them laugh, dances and sings together with them. We selected 40 elderly residents for the program, 20 of them interacted with the robot and the other 20 did not. A study afterwards found that those who’d interacted with Robin were happier and the positive impact was obvious.”
Robin the Robot himself made his own intro at the event. He said that he is 7 years old and is now living at the Nork Nursing Home. “I’ve made very good friends here, we talk every day, we play games and do a lot of other interesting things. Every day I learn new things with my friends,” said Robin the Robot.
The Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Tatevik Stepanyan praised the program and thanked everyone involved, noting that ever since Robin the Robot arrived at the center the everyday life of the elderly residents changed drastically in a positive way.
A resident of the Nork Nursing Home, Ms. Ligia Khachatryan, said that she became friends with Robin the Robot the moment they met. “Being an expert of Russian language, I started to teach him Russian. It went very well. He knows so much, he even knows what gravity is. He is very friendly. Sometimes we even have secret conversations and I ask him not to tell anyone about it, and he promises that he won’t,” Khachatryan said.
ArmInfo. No one better than the Russian peacekeepers will be able to fulfill these obligations in Nagorno-Karabakh. Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan stated this during a press conference on Facebook on the air of RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
So, in order to clarify what is the reason for his assertion that the presence of peacekeepers from Norway or other countries will untie the hands of Azerbaijan to violate the ceasefire regime, Babayan noted that the question is not whether Norway is loved or not loved in the NKR or Armenia.
” It is important to be realistic. Our future is in danger. And first of all, those who now live here can lose everything. This is not the time for practical proposals. Until the peacekeepers from Norway come, and even the question is whether they will come, whether they will be able to do anything, whether they will be able to save something, whether they have experience in maintaining peace! The Russian Federation has been here for centuries,” the head of the Karabakh Foreign Ministry said.
At the same time, Babayan asked a counter question, what is wrong with the fact that the Russian Federation is in Nagorno-Karabakh. “What is the logic that you want the Norwegians? Do you want the best for Artsakh? If you serve other interests, then we are not in this game. Nobody better than Russian peacekeepers will be able to fulfill these obligations. But this does not mean that we are against Norway, all efforts should be directed to the salvation of Artsakh,” the diplomat said, once again calling for refraining from political speculation.
When asked about the inability of Russian peacekeepers to stop Azerbaijani provocations, Babayan asked a counter question: Will not the Azeris take such steps in the case of the Norwegians as well?
The NKR Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that all provocations by Azerbaijan, which are carried out with the support of Turkey, are directed, including against Russia. “If there were peacekeepers from other countries, they would have entered Stepanakert long ago and would have killed everyone. And only the presence of Russia is a restraining factor,” he said, emphasizing once again that it is the presence of Russian peacekeepers that does not allow the outbreak of a new large-scale war.
When asked why Artsakh will not hold a referendum and vote for joining Russia, Babayan stressed that this issue is not on the agenda today. At the same time, the head of the NKR Foreign Ministry noted that today the most important thing is not to be part of Azerbaijan.
“I would like to emphasize that neither in the short term nor in the long term, we will not accept attempts to forcibly annex Artsakh to Azerbaijan. This is the most important thing and we must build a development vector on this,” he said.
Referring to the statements of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia about the need to lower the bar on the Karabakh issue, which is requested by the international community, the Minister drew attention to the disunity of the international community today and pointed to the need to be guided by our own national interests.
Speaking about the prospects for the resumption of the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Babayan recalled that this is the only platform where the United States, France and Russia worked together.
According to him, against the background of the processes around Ukraine, the activity of the format has been frozen due to disagreements between Russia and the West, but he expressed hope that it will be restarted in the future. At the same time, in this vein, he drew attention to the complexity of the process of dismantling the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. “The main thing for us now is the preservation of peace and stability in the region,” the diplomat said.
PanARMENIAN.Net – History teachers from U.S. schools will for the first time attend professional training courses on the Armenian Genocide, according to Regina Galstyan, a researcher at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Sputnik Armenia.
“These courses will be the first in Armenia not only for American but also for foreign educators in general,” Galstyan said, reminding that the AGMI regularly holds such classes for Armenian teachers.
There is no single educational program for schools in the United States, which means each state makes decisions independently, with departments of education in state governments also making policy decisions.
That is why educators in the United States may include individual elements in their curriculum, such as the story of the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide in general history courses or social studies.
Now, 15 such teachers (no Armenians among them) will participate in the courses organized by the Genocide Museum-Institute.
On April 24, 1915, a large group of Armenian intellectuals was rounded up and assassinated in Constantinople by the Ottoman government. On April 24, 2022, Armenians worldwide will be commemorating the 107th anniversary of the Genocide which continued until 1923. Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians as Genocide. Turkey denies to this day.
Dr. Deborah Mayersen, Professor Peter Stanley and Mr. Vicken Babkenian will headline the ‘Australia and Armenian Genocide’ Event at the prestigious Manning Clark House in Canberra, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).
Manning Clark House, best known for hosting stimulating discussions aimed at providing distinctive solutions for Australian issues and cultural challenges both locally and globally, will host the Armenian Genocide event on Wednesday 27th April 2022, at 6:00pm.
The event will feature Dr. Mayersen, who is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Political Studies at the University of New South Wales Canberra campus. She has published several books on the Armenian Genocide, including ‘On the Path to Genocide: Armenia and Rwanda Reexamined’ and more recently ‘A Cultural History of Genocide in the Modern World’.
Professor Stanley is a Research Professor at the University of New South Wales Canberra campus and one of Australia’s leading and most active military historians–formerly the Principal Historian at the Australian War Memorial as well as Head of the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia.
Stanley co-authored the book ‘Armenia-Australia and the Great War along with Armenian-Australian Mr. Babkenian, who is an Independent Researcher for the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and will also participate in the Manning Clark House event.
11:01,
YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. A merchant fuel ship heading from Equatorial Guinea to Malta sank off the coast of Gabes in Tunisia on Friday, Reuters reported citing two security sources.
The ship sank due to bad weather.
All seven crew members were rescued by the navy.
The ship carried one thousand tons of fuel and sent a distress call seven miles away from Gabes.
Authorities are working to avoid an environmental disaster and reduce repercussions, the environment ministry said in a statement.
13:06,
YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The regular summer conscription for mandatory military service or alternative military service and discharge will be held from April 18 until August 30 this year.
The Cabinet approved the decision at today’s meeting.
13:08,
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Yerevan’s public transport fleet will receive an additional 100 new buses. The current fleet is made up from 54 buses.
Yerevan Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan instructed city officials to prepare the procurement tender package.
The Chinese-made Zhong Tong buses will also start operating new routes from May 1.
In addition, city authorities will soon announce the tender for buying 15 new trolleybuses.