Author: Janet Ekmekjian

 17:37,

YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the President of the International Boxing Association (IBA) Umar Kremlev, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the prime Minster.

The meeting was attended by the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission for Coordinating the European Boxing Championship Arayik Harutyunyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Vahram Dumanyan, his Deputy Karen Giloyan, President of the European Boxing Confederation Ioannis Filippatos, President of the Armenian Boxing Association Hovhannes Hovsepyan and other officials.

In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister particularly said, "Dear Mr. Kremlev, dear colleagues, I welcome you. I am very glad that we are meeting on a very significant occasion for the Republic of Armenia, on the occasion of holding the European Boxing Championship in our country. To be honest, before the championship was organized, I did not even know that neither the European nor the World Championships of Olympic sports had been held in Armenia before, it was a very sad fact for us.

I would also like to thank you for entrusting our country with such a responsible event. I hope you are satisfied with the organizational level of the championship, and with the results of this event we will be sure that we can also host and organize the World Cup.

Next year we are going to host the European Weightlifting Championships, and in general we have decided to try to host significant sporting events in our country every year. We look forward to your support in this matter. Yesterday I was there. To be honest, it may seem strange, but it was the first time I attended a boxing tournament of this level, since I never had such an opportunity in the past, it was quite interesting. I welcome you once again, I would like to hear your opinion on the level of organization, and on the championship in general."

The President of the International Boxing Association thanked the Prime Minister for the warm words and noted, “Mr. Prime Minister, when Armenia initially submitted an application, and I know that Armenia is a country of boxing, I know that boxing is a beloved sport here, of course, Europe supported it. I came before the championship, I got acquainted with the works, I really thank you and your whole team, you organized the opening wonderfully, at a high level. Your example should be followed during the next European Championship.

The most important thing for us is the conditions for athletes and coaches. I talked to them once today, everyone is delighted with such a warm reception, the conditions created, that's the most important thing. About 40 countries have arrived to take part in the championship, everyone is delighted: the opening, the accommodation, the food, the tours in Yerevan, everything is well organized. Once again, I would like to thank you personally and your team, everyone, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, the Federation of Armenia for the great work. It really shows that not only the European Championship can be held in Armenia, but also the issue of holding the World Cup can be observed, as there are all the conditions. You mentioned that this is the first time, but you can say that you opened the gates with this."

Umar Kremlev noted that today the fights of the final round of the European Boxing Championship will take place, the tickets of which are completely sold out, which testifies to the great interest in this sport in Armenia and the high level of organization of the event. The President of the European Boxing Confederation also expressed satisfaction with the championship.

The prospects and challenges of sports development, as well as the holding of international tournaments, the development of sports infrastructure and the promotion of sports lifestyle were discussed at the meeting. The Prime Minister presented the consistent steps taken by the Government in the mentioned directions. The President of the IBA, in his turn, presented the programs of the association for the popularization of boxing, creation of conditions necessary for the professional growth of athletes, encouragement mechanisms, provision of infrastructure, adding that the IBA will support the development of sports in Armenia as much as possible.

The President of the International Boxing Association invited Prime Minister Pashinyan to watch today's fights in the final round of the European Boxing Championship.

 10:03, 19 May, 2022

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is seeing a large influx of both Russians and Ukrainians ever since the Russian invasion into Ukraine began in late February – in what Moscow describes as a "special military operation" and Kiev says is an unprovoked attack. 

Now, 200 Ukrainian citizens have already requested asylum in Armenia. More than half of the asylum seekers are ethnic Armenians.

Nelly Davtyan, the Public Relations Director at the Migration Service of Armenia, told ARMENPRESS that 5938 Ukrainian citizens arrived to Armenia in the first quarter of 2022 (2079 in January, 1597 in February and 2262 in March), compared to the previous year’s 2531. Moreover, most of them (5631) left Armenia in the same first quarter. And from the remaining over 300 Ukrainians 200 applied for asylum.

“Right now we have more than 200 people who’ve applied for refugee status, 60% of them are ethnic Armenians, the other 40% are ethnic Ukrainians,” Davtyan said.

If the asylum seekers get the refugee status, they will have the right of legal residence in Armenia and a conventional travel document which is valid in nearly 160 countries who have the same asylum procedures. Right now, the applications are being processed and could take up to 3 months – the standard processing time. However, whenever the first precedent decision is made, the rest (which are similar cases) will proceed faster.

Meanwhile, Davtyan added that the Russian citizens who’ve arrived in Armenia are exempt from the requirement of obtaining work permit and residency status because they are citizens of an Eurasian Economic Union country. They are entitled to stay freely for up to 180 days.

“If their work activities require longer time, the Migration Service gives them a document stating that they are residing and working in Armenia legally. A certificate in the form of a plastic card is issued. It is issued for free in a rather short period of time, from a week up to ten days,” Davtyan said.

The applications are being received online at workpermit.am. The card is issued with the same term as the applicant’s work contract, for example: if a Russian citizen has signed a 5-year work contract in Armenia with a company, they will receive a 5-year certificate. If the contract is signed indefinitely, the standard term for the card is 1 year with the possibility of extension.

142,117 Russian citizens arrived in Armenia in the first quarter of this year (47,381 in January, 40,036 in February and 54,700 in March). In the previous year’s same period, this number was 43,045.

However, 138,111 Russian citizens have left Armenia in the same first quarter. The remainder is around 4000. Davtyan, however, emphasized that this doesn’t mean that there were only 4000 Russian citizens in Armenia as of the quarterly data. “This is a small number, because in January and also in February the departure of Russian citizens was very large. It is possible that this departure also reflected the Armenian work migrants who hold Russian citizenship, who leave for Russia in spring and winter for work,” Davtyan said.

Meanwhile, according to the State Registry data, more than 1500 Russian citizens registered businesses in Armenia in the first quarter.  “I don’t think 1500 out of 4000 would get registered as legal entities. The [4000] number is actually many times more,” Davtyan said.

Russia attacked Ukraine in late February, following what Moscow describes as Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

 

Anna Grigoryan

 14:14, 19 May, 2022

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. The security and the protection of rights of the people of Artsakh is a priority for Armenia, and Armenia is heading for the negotiations with this agenda, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan said at a press briefing when asked on Armenia’s position on the issue of the status of Artsakh.

“Security and protection of rights are priority, meaning our compatriots living in Artsakh must have security and protection of rights. And the status of Artsakh will stem from this. And we are headed to negotiations with this agenda,” Grigoryan said.

 10:26,

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. Catholicos Karekin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church conveyed his blessings and congratulations to Fr. Mesrob Parsamyan on his election as the new Primate of the Eastern Diocese of Armenian Church of America at the Diocesan Assembly on May 6.

Karekin II confirmed the election of the Very Reverend Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan to the office of Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiatsin said in a statement.

 19:20,

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani defense ministry again spreads misinformation, claiming in its message that on May 19, units of the Armenian Armed Forces fired at Azerbaijani positions located in the eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with different caliber firearms, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia.

"The situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is relatively stable, it is under the full control of the Armenian Armed Forces," the statement reads.

 14:52,

YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS. 91 demonstrators in the ongoing anti-government protests in Yerevan were detained by police on May 16.

The demonstrations held under the “Resistance Movement” name carried out what they describe as civil disobedience acts in various streets across the city. The protesters were blocking streets and causing traffic obstructions, police said.