Author: Jirair Kafian

Armenpress: Due to the coronavirus, the entry of Armenian citizens to Italy has been restricted

Jirair Kafian

Due to the coronavirus, the entry of Armenian citizens to Italy has been restricted

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 20:48, 26 October, 2021

YEREVAN, 26 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. The Italian authorities will not allow Armenian citizens to enter the country for tourism due to the coronavirus, ARMENPRESS reports, Schengen Visa Info said.

In particular, it became known that Italy has removed a number of countries, including Armenia, from the D list of countries, whose citizens are allowed to visit Italy under certain conditions.

According to the recent list published by the Italian Ministry of Health, in addition to Armenia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Lebanon, Moldova, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have been removed from the D list of countries. All of these countries are now included in List E, which means that citizens of these countries will be allowed to enter Italy only for very strong purposes, in strict compliance with epidemiological rules.




620 thousand doses of Moderna vaccine donated by Norway arrives in Armenia

Jirair Kafian

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 12:45,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The 620,000 dose of the Moderna vaccine donated to Armenia by Norway with the support of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism within the framework of the Team Europe initiative is already in Armenia.

ARMENPRESS reports the Ministry of Helath informs that the donation was handed over to the Ministry of Health by the Ambassador of the European Union to Armenia Andrea Wiktorin and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Armenia Helene Sand Andresen at Zvartnots Airport.

”We are thankful to Norway and the EU for donating the batch of COVID-19 vaccine, especially during this difficult time for Armenia. Despite the urgent challenges posed by the pandemic in our country, we continue our information campaign on vaccinations. Through such a large donation, we will have the opportunity to increase the level of vaccinations of the population, to expand the coverage throughout Armenia. We will overcome this pandemic through solidarity and unity’’, Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan said.

Helene Sand Andresen hoped that the vaccine will help Armenia protect itself from the pandemic.
Taking into account the rise of COVID-19 cases in Armenia and the need to increase the level of vaccinations, we believe that the delivery of the vaccine takes place at the right time. We believe that due to the wide range of vaccines available to the citizens of Armenia, it will be possible to ensure a higher vaccination rate. Vaccines are the way to fight COVID-19, alleviate and stop it’’, the EU Ambassador to Armenia Andrea Wiktorin said.

COVID spikes in Armenia even as vaccine mandate goes into effect

Jirair Kafian
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 29 2021
Ani Mejlumyan Oct 29, 2021
More Armenians are getting vaccinated against COVID, but the numbers remain the lowest in the region and the country is going through its worst wave of the disease yet.

According to the most recent government data, at most 7 percent of Armenians are fully vaccinated against COVID. That compares to 22 percent in Georgia, and 42 percent in Azerbaijan. And Armenia’s real numbers are in fact likely lower than that, as a significant portion of those who have gotten vaccinated in the country are visitors.

But Armenia’s pace is picking up: The number of those who have gotten their first shot is double that of the fully vaccinated, apparently in reaction to a new government mandate that requires employers to demand from their employees either a proof of vaccination or regular negative PCR tests.

Nevertheless, the number of registered new infections has reached more than 2,000 per day and the deaths due to COVID have been breaking domestic records, with highs of as many as 57 deaths in a day recorded in the last week. More than 6,000 Armenians have now died of COVID, in a population of under three million.

There have been nearly no COVID-related movement restrictions in the country since the beginning of the pandemic, and the government has signaled that it does not intend to implement strict ones even now. “There are countries that are returning to lockdown. […] Armenia won’t have a lockdown,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at an October 28 cabinet meeting. “Instead, we have to toughen the restrictions, maybe even making wearing masks outdoors mandatory.”

The employee vaccine mandate is the most significant step that the government has taken toward stemming the spread of the disease, and October 14 was the first day that employers were supposed to start enforcing the new rules. A visit by Eurasianet to Polyclinic 22 in Yerevan on that day found a mob scene, with doctors trying in vain to enforce social distancing rules on the large numbers of people who showed up to get vaccinated.

Many Armenians prefer to get vaccinated at polyclinics rather than the mobile clinics the Ministry of Health has set up around Yerevan and other cities. In Yerevan, those clinics are particularly crowded with foreigners, especially Iranians, who come for the relative ease of getting the jab in Armenia.

The vaccine in highest demand in Armenia is now the Chinese-produced Sinopharm, partly because it has a shorter wait time between doses (28 days) than the other vaccines on offer. There also is a widespread belief that Sinopharm’s side effects are weaker than those of the other vaccines.

Sputnik V and AstraZeneca also have been available in Armenia since May, and Armenia also has recently gotten supplies of Moderna. The latter was developed at a firm led by diaspora Armenian Noubar Afeyan, which has given it somewhat of a popularity boost among Armenians. But reports that the vaccine also is linked to heart problems among young adults has dampened enthusiasm.

At Polyclinic 22, supplies of Sinopharm ran out quickly and doctors told people hoping for that vaccine to return on November 1, when they expected to receive more supplies.

One 60-something man, Samvel (who didn’t give his last name), had been waiting outside the door of the clinic for three hours when a clinic worker came out to tell him: “Mr. Samvel, please go home, we only have 25 doses of Sinopharm and more than 50 people in line ahead of you.” But he was undeterred: “If I come on November 1, can you guarantee that I won’t have to wait for hours? I don’t think so.” He ended up waiting anyway and so many ahead of him in line got discouraged that he got his shot in the end.

On October 18, the Health Ministry announced it was importing a further 200,000 doses of Sinopharm, and four days later it said it was receiving a donation of 620,000 doses of Moderna.

In spite of the vaccine shortages, the government announced on October 26 that it was lifting restrictions on foreigners getting the vaccines; previously visitors had to prove that they had been in the country for at least 10 days to get inoculated.

Under the new employment regulations, the government can make random checks on places of employment to make sure that employees have either proof of at least one dose of a vaccination or a recent negative PCR test. The fine for individuals who violate the rules ranges from about $40-$80, for companies it is $250.

It’s not clear how many employees have yet to be vaccinated. The Ministry of Health has recorded about 200,000 people fully vaccinated in the country and 400,000 with one dose, but it doesn’t distinguish between Armenian citizens and foreigners in those numbers. The country has more than 600,000 legally employed people, according to government statistics, and the Armenian Statistical Service and the World Bank have estimated the number of unregistered workers in the country at between 300,000 and 700,000. It’s unclear to what extent these workers will be subject to the mandate.

As in many other countries where various forms of vaccine mandates have been introduced, some in Armenia are taking shortcuts. On October 13, the National Security Service announced that it had identified more than 700 people with fake vaccination certificates in the second city of Gyumri. Ten doctors have been charged in the case.

As of October 28, there were 3,100 people in Armenia hospitalized with COVID, of those 97 percent had not been vaccinated, Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan said at the cabinet meeting. About 90 percent of the hospitalized had contracted the especially aggressive Delta variant of the disease. Of the 3,100, half are in critical condition, and of those 99 percent had been unvaccinated. Two hundred more infected are waiting to be hospitalized because there aren’t enough beds, she added.

Some hospitals have reported ventilators for COVID patients breaking down from overuse, and patients who need them having to do without. At the Vedi Hospital in the Ararat region, of 85 COVID patients only one of them – who had been vaccinated – didn’t require oxygen, deputy hospital director Samvel Khachataryan told RFE/RL.

Universities had opened for in-person classes this school year but on October 27 they moved back to online-only. Schools have extended the already-scheduled fall break for another week in response to the growing outbreak.

Meanwhile, there are regular scandals of senior officials and other elites openly flouting social distancing and other COVID regulations. President Armen Sarkissian hosted participants of a conference, the Armenian Summit of Minds, indoors at his residence; photos of the event showed none of the dozens of people wearing a mask, including Avanesyan, who regularly advocates for even vaccinated Armenians to wear masks. Current regulations require everyone to wear a mask in indoor places.

Anti-vaccine sentiment also remains widespread; Pashinyan tried to mitigate it by sharing his own family’s experience.

“There are questions regarding the effectiveness of the vaccines; I want to bring a personal example,” he told the October 28 cabinet meeting. “Six people in my family are vaccinated, except for the two underaged kids. Recently my 14-year-old daughter caught the virus. […] But nobody else in my family got it despite finding out late and having been in intensive contact with her.” Still, he added: “We could also get the virus. The protection is not 100 percent.”

 

Ani Mejlumyan is a reporter based in Yerevan.

 

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 10/25/2021

Jirair Kafian 
                                        Monday, 
Armenian Students Sent Home Amid COVID-19 Resurgence
Armenia - Children play basketball at a school in the town of Gavar, March 9, 
2021.
The Armenian Ministry of Education ordered universities to revert to online 
classes and extended school holidays on Monday as health authorities struggled 
to contain a new wave of coronavirus infections in the country.
The order, effective from Tuesday, requires all universities and colleges to 
offer their students only distance courses until November 15. It also means that 
a one-week autumn break in Armenia’s primary, secondary high schools, which 
began on Monday, will be extended until November 7.
The Armenian educational institutions will thus be effectively closed for the 
first time since October 2020. The authorities began reopening them in December 
after coronavirus cases peaked during the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The authorities have reported similarly large numbers of cases and resulting 
deaths in recent weeks. According to the Ministry of Health, over 13,000 people 
in the country of about 3 million have tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 
250 of them have died in the past week. Forty-two of those deaths were recorded 
on Sunday.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian warned that Armenian hospitals are “on the 
verge” of running out of vacant beds for COVID-19 patients.
Her ministry already reported a shortage of beds more than a week ago. It said 
hundreds of infected people in need of urgent care are awaiting hospitalization 
because of that.
In a Facebook post, Avanesian urged Armenians to “put on masks everywhere” and 
get vaccinated.
The minister faced criticism on social media on Monday after it emerged that she 
and other senior government officials did not wear masks during an indoor 
reception hosted by President Armen Sarkissian and attended by more than 100 
people.
Most ordinary Armenians also do not wear mandatory masks indoors, including in 
overcrowded public buses. Authorities essentially stopped fining them more than 
a year ago.
Also, Armenia continues to have the lowest vaccination rate in the region. 
Ministry of Health data shows that 466,785 people received at least one dose of 
a coronavirus vaccine and only about 210,250 of them were fully vaccinated as of 
October 24.
Vaccinations have accelerated over the past month after the authorities began 
requiring all public and private sector employees to get inoculated or take 
coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense.
Gyumri Election Winner Still Mum On New Mayor
        • Satenik Kaghzvantsian
Armenia -An election campaign poster of the Balasanian Bloc and its mayoral 
candidate Vardges Samsonian in Gyumri, .
The political force that won the October 17 municipal election in Gyumri has yet 
to clarify whether it will team up with the ruling Civil Contract party or an 
opposition group to install the new mayor of Armenia’s second largest city.
Gyumri has been run by Samvel Balasanian, a local businessman, for the last nine 
years. He used to be allied to the former Armenian government that helped him 
win reelection in 2016.
Although Balasanian decided not to seek another term in office, a newly created 
bloc bearing his name joined the mayoral race.
The Balasanian Bloc garnered 36.6 percent of the vote, earning it 14 seats in 
the 33-member city council empowered to elect the mayor. In what is widely seen 
as a serious setback for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Civil Contract finished 
second with 11 seats.
The remaining eight seats will be distributed among three opposition parties. 
One of them, Zartonk (Awakening), will be represented in the local council by 
four members.
Zartonk proposed last week a coalition deal to the Balasanian Bloc which would 
allow the latter’s top election candidate, Vardges Samsonian, to become mayor. 
The bloc has still not responded to the offer.
“We don’t have a decision at the moment,” a spokesman for the Balasanian Bloc, 
Arman Shaboyan, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday. “We are holding 
discussions within our team.”
The new city council is scheduled to hold its inaugural session on November 4.
According to some media reports, the Balasanian Bloc is facing strong pressure 
from the central government to reach a power-sharing deal with Pashinian’s party 
and even cede the post of mayor to it. The bloc has not officially reacted to 
those reports.
Civil Contract has not commented on its post-election plans in Gyumri. Its 
mayoral candidate, Hovannes Harutiunian, is the governor of surrounding Shirak 
province.
Samvel Balasanian, the outgoing mayor, has made no public statements on the 
outcome of the local election. Balasanian has avoided openly challenging the 
current Armenian government ever since he took office in 2018.
Pashinian Stands By Ambitious Growth Target
        • Robert Zargarian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is about to present his government's 
draft 2022 budget to members of the Armenian parliament, Yerevan, October 25, 
2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday that his government expects the 
Armenian economy to continue its recovery from a coronavirus-related recession 
and grow by 7 percent next year.
The economy shrunk by 7.6 percent last year due to negative effects of the 
coronavirus pandemic compounded by Armenia’s war with Azerbaijan. It returned to 
growth this spring and is now projected to expand by at least 6 percent in 2021.
Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund anticipate slower growth 
in 2022. The bank forecast a 4.8 percent growth rate for the South Caucasus 
nation in a report released earlier this month.
A senior IMF official similarly predicted last month that Armenian growth will 
slow down to 4.5 percent in 2022. “Downside risks remain elevated, including 
from geopolitical tensions, a slowdown in external demand, and heightened global 
financial market volatility,” he said.
The Armenian government’s five-year policy program approved by the parliament in 
August says that GDP should increase by 7 percent annually. Pashinian stood by 
this ambitious target when he presented the government’s draft 2022 budget to 
lawmakers.
“Although most of the current year was marked by an unstable political and 
security environment, our economy is now exceeding all growth forecasts made for 
2021,” he said. “On the other hand, based on this year’s results, the government 
hopes for more.”
The draft budget commits Armenian tax authorities to increasing state revenue by 
as much as 25 percent next year. This would not only finance a 15 percent rise 
in public spending but also cut the country’s budget deficit that widened 
significantly during the recession.
The bill does not envisage major pay rises for public sector employees and would 
keep the national minimum wage unchanged at 68,000 drams ($143) per month. The 
government is only planning to raise the minimum pension by 2,100 drams.
Consumer price inflation in Armenia has risen significantly this year, reaching 
an annual rate of about 9 percent in August on the back of increased food prices.
Yerevan Comments On ‘Fresh Deals’ With Baku
        • Artak Khulian
        • Naira Nalbandian
RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Azerbaijani President 
Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in the Krelmin, January 
11, 2021.
The Armenian government reacted over the weekend to reports that the leaders of 
Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Moscow next month to sign two more 
far-reaching agreements.
Aliqmedia.am said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will host on November 9 
fresh talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev that will be timed to coincide with the first anniversary 
of a Russian-brokered deal that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Citing unnamed Armenian diplomatic sources, the publication claimed that Aliyev 
and Pashinian will sign two agreements envisaging the demarcation of the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the opening of transport links between the two 
South Caucasus states. It said one of those documents will also commit Baku and 
Yerevan to recognizing each other’s territorial integrity.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti likewise reported afterwards that Aliyev and 
Pashinian could meet in Moscow in early November. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry 
Peskov did not confirm that report. He said that the Kremlin will make an 
official statement on the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit if an agreement on its 
date and agenda is reached by the sides.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Vahan Hunanian, said, for his part, 
that “for the time being no meeting between the prime minister of Armenia and 
the president of Azerbaijan is planned.”
“There are proposals for various meetings in different formats, which are being 
discussed,” Hunanian said in written comments posted on Facebook.
“I would also like to underline that the ‘news’ spread on this topic by some 
circles are clearly of provocative nature and do not correspond to reality,” 
added the official.
Hunanian stressed at the same time that Yerevan is committed to starting work on 
border demarcation and reopening the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier for cargo 
traffic in line with the ceasefire deal brokered by Putin.
Pashinian did not comment on the issue on Monday when he visited the Armenian 
parliament to present his government’s draft budget for next year to lawmakers. 
He declined to answer questions from them or talk to reporters.
Deputies representing the ruling Civil Contract party either claimed to be 
unaware of any planned deals with Baku or did not want to comment on such a 
possibility.
“I am waiting to see the content of a document that will be presented to us by 
our government,” said Hrachya Hakobian, who is also Pashinian’s brother-in-law. 
“I don’t want to comment now on what foreign media outlets report.”
Armenia - Senor lawmakers from the opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem alliances 
talk during a parliament session in Yerevan, August 24, 2021.
The reports prompted serious concerns from Armenian opposition leaders and other 
critics of Pashinian. They renewed their allegations that Pashinian is planning 
to make more territorial concessions to Baku and recognize Azerbaijani 
sovereignty over Karabakh.
Artsvik Minasian, a senior lawmaker from the main opposition Hayastan alliance, 
said it will try to scuttle such concessions.
“Even if a negotiating process is underway, it must be public or at least the 
main political and publics actors must be involved in it,” Minasian told a news 
conference. “The authorities cannot carry with their secretive stance.”
Another senior Hayastan representative, Ishkhan Saghatelian, announced late last 
week that the bloc led by former President Robert Kocharian will soon hold a 
rally in Yerevan to try to prevent a “new capitulation agreement.”
Putin already hosted a trilateral meeting with Aliyev and Pashinian in January. 
The three leaders decided at the time to set up a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani 
commission tasked with working out practical modalities of establishing the 
transport links.
The commission most recently met in the Russian capital on October 20. Ahead of 
that meeting, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov spoke of “positive” 
signals coming from Yerevan. Bayramov expressed hope that they will translate 
into “concrete results” soon.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenia simplifies licensing terms for foreign companies

Jirair Kafian

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 12:43,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia approved today the draft law on making amendments to the Law on Licensing.

At the Cabinet meeting today, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said that recently their ministry has initiated a study of licensing activity types in order to make the participation of foreign companies to the activity of Armenia’s economy more available and affordable.

“As a result of that study we specified 13 activity types, for which we can allow to offer easier licensing terms to foreign companies. Thus, we are simplifying the licensing opportunity for legal entities of EAEU, EU states, the US, Canada, China, South Korea, Japan, UK, Iran, Georgia and the UAE in the following areas: private security activities, postal service, import or export of nuclear materials, equipment containing radioactive materials, organization of railway transportation activity, etc”, the minister said.

The minister said this will greatly improve the business climate and will enable the foreign companies to easier participate in the economic activity in Armenia.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

We are committed to the political course of democratic reforms – PM Pashinyan receives the CoE delegation

Jirair Kafian

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 19:46,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the  Head of the Rapporteur Group on Democracy of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the CoE, Ambassador Mårten Ehnberg and the delegation led by him. and his delegation. The delegation consists of the Ambassadors of France, Russia, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Andorra, Iceland to the CoE and representatives of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Greeting the CoE delegation, the PM said, “The Council of Europe has been one of our key partners in the field of democracy since 2000 and has accompanied us in virtually all of our reforms. I think we have concrete achievements in this difficult period, particularly in terms of democracy, and it is worth emphasizing especially here. Seemingly insurmountable problems were constantly registered regarding the quality of the elections, the reliability of the official results since the first days of our membership to the Council of Europe until 2018,  but, in fact, we can state that this problem has been overcome.

I would also like to emphasize that for the first time in the history of Armenia, elections have served as a tool to overcome the domestic political crisis, while in the past, elections have always been the cause of domestic political crisis, controversy and opposition. We are committed to the political course of democratic reforms, we will continue that path, and we are glad that we can count on the support of the Council of Europe on that path.”

On behalf of the delegation, Mårten Ehnberg thanked the Prime Minister for the appreciation, emphasizing that the Council of Europe attaches importance to the partnership with Armenia. He noted that the delegation has had effective discussions with its Armenian partners, during the exchange of views the priorities for the effective implementation of the CoE-Armenia 2019-2022 Action Plan were recorded.

At the request of the representatives of the CoE delegation, the Prime Minister presented details on Armenia’s democratic agenda, speaking about reforms in the fields of anti-corruption, elections, freedom of speech, judiciary, penitentiaries, as well as other spheres. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the current results show that as a result of the reforms initiated by the Government, it has been possible to create effective control mechanisms in the mentioned directions. This process continues.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister answered a number of questions of the members of the CoE delegation. The questions were about overcoming the consequences of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh, resolving humanitarian issues, ensuring peace and stability in the region, resumption of the negotiation process within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as Armenia’s democratic development, importance of educational reform, strengthening of rule of law, prevention of domestic violence, promotion of state-civil society cooperation, improvement of the parliamentary system of government, etc.

Head of the Rapporteur Group on Democracy of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Mårten Ehnberg thanked the PM for the detailed reference, noting that the works testifying to Armenia’s democratic progress will be presented during the discussion of the CoE-Armenia Action Plan 2019-2022 scheduled in January 2022.

Lawmaker Anna Grigoryan alerts about expected concessions in Kapan

Jirair Kafian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 16 2021

Opposition lawmaker from “Armenia” faction Anna Grigoryan took to Facebook, alerting about new concessions expected in Armenia’s southern Kapan town. 

“The advocates of the fake peace plan new concessions in Kapan. Ahead of the elections to local self-government bodies, the authorities are giving another gift to their ‘educated’ and ‘constructive’ friends in the form of conceding heights of strategic importance in Kapan,” Grigoryan reported. 

In her words, according to the plan, Pela mountain will be passed to Azerbaijan’s control, thus creating immediate security risks for the nearby villages. 

“Azerbaijan may not resort to new provocations as long as there are people in Armenia’s leadership who concede in parts important and strategic parts of out country,” Grigoryan added. 

EAM Jaishankar Begins 2-day Armenia Trip By Visiting Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Jirair Kafian
Republic World, India
Oct 13 2021
Written By

Anurag Roushan

Image: Twitter/ @ Dr. S. Jaishankar


On Wednesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar began his two-day visit to Armenia by paying a tribute to the 1.5 million Armenians who were killed in the first genocide of the 20th century at the hands of the Turkish government.

The homage was paid at Yerevan’s Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex erected in memory of the victims of the genocide.

“Began the day by paying homage at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex,” tweeted Jaishankar who is the first Indian External Affairs Minister to visit Armenia.

On Tuesday, October 12, Jaishankar arrived in Yerevan and was greeted by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. Jaishankar left for a three-nation tour of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Armenia on October 10, according to a statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

After paying tribute, the Indian Foreign Minister held a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan where the two countries agreed to boost economic, education, and cultural exchanges.

Jaishankar also met the President of Armenia’s National Assembly, Alen Simonyan and discussed bilateral relations between the two countries. Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar informed that he discussed the importance of nurturing the bonds between two parliamentary democracies.

In Yerevan, Jaishankar and Mirozyan also paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue and planted a friendship tree. The Indian Foreign Minister also met Indian students and expressed gratitude to the Armenian government for their well-being.

Rhetoric of confrontation does not contribute to overcoming disagreements. Russian MFA on Aliyev’s statement

Jirair Kafian

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 19:01, 30 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The rhetoric of confrontation does not contribute to the overcoming of the existing disagreements, ARMENPRESS reports Russian MFA press service official Alexei Zaytsev said in a weekly briefing, referring to the announcement of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev about the so-called ‘’Zangezur’’ corridor. ‘’Instead, it’s extremely important to create opportunities for finding mutually acceptable solutions’’, he said.

Zaytsev added that both Baku and Yerevan have announced at the top level ‘’about readiness to open new page in relations and gradual normalization of relations’’. ‘’In our efforts, we focus on such positive points’’, Zaytsev emphasized.

‘’ The trilateral working group on the unblocking of transport routes in the South Caucasus continues its works at the level of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. For our part, we welcome the positive attitude of Baku and Yerevan towards reaching mutually acceptable, package agreements, which in the future will give an opportunity to move the joint work to the level of partnership’’, the Russian MFA official said.

Azerbaijan hands remains of three Armenian militaries over to Nagorno-Karabakh

Jirair Kafian
Caucasian Knot, EU
Sept 29 2021

The remains of the servicemen who perished during the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh have been handed over to Karabakh rescuers. The total number of the remains of the Armenian militaries found has reached 1673, the Nagorno-Karabakh Emergency Service has informed.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on September 24, in Shushi, the Azerbaijani party handed the remains of a serviceman over to Karabakh rescuers. Then, the total number of bodies and remains of Armenian militaries found reached 1670.

The transfer of the remains of the above three perished servicemen to the Armenian party was held on September 28 in Shushi, the Nagorno-Karabakh Emergency Service has reported in its Facebook page. A forensic medical examination has been appointed to identify the casualties, the report says.

The total number of bodies and remains of Armenian military servicemen found in the Karabakh conflict zone has reached 1673, rescuers have informed.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 29, 2021 at 04:00 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

See earlier reports:

Azerbaijan hands over remains of person killed in Nagorno-Karabakh, Remains of military serviceman found in Nagorno-Karabakh, Remains of Armenian soldier found near Gadrut.

Author: The Caucasian Knot;

Source: 
© Caucasian Knot