Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 30 2018
Armenia expects a significant breakthrough in the construction of the
Meghri hydroelectric power station on the border with Iran
Yerevan August 29
Alexander Avanesov. Armenia expects a significant breakthrough in the
construction project of Meghri HPPon the river Araks at Iranian border
. On August 29, RA Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural
Resources Arthur Grigoryan stated this at the press conference in
Yerevan, responding to the question of ArmInfo.
According to him, negotiations on the construction of the Meghri
hydropower plant have been in progress since 2006, numerous documents
have been signed, and real progress in this there is still no
progress. The Armenian side presented to its Iranian partners certain
proposals on this project and is waiting for a response in the nearest
future. "On September 2-3, the Armenian delegation hopes to get the
final answer on the Meghri hydropower station during the visit to
Iran," said Arthur Grigoryan.
Earlier, ArmInfo informed that the Mejlis of Iran at the meeting of 18
April, with162 votes "for", 5 "against" and 5 abstentions approved the
bill on the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Araks
River. The Meghri hydropower plant was considered the most promising
joint Armenian-Iranian project. Although the parties have come to the
final stage of the project and announced the start of construction in
November 2012, the work has not been started yet because of the
limitations of Tehran because of the sanctions. If the project is
completed, the station will become the largest in the Transcaucasus.
According to the project, the construction of a $ 323 million facility
will be financed by the Iranian investment company. Armenia will pay
for its part of the project with electricity produced at the
hydroelectric station itself, and after 15 years the hydroelectric
power station will be transferred to the Armenian side. While the
Armenian-Iranian economic relations can not move from the dead point,
after the lifting of sanctions, economic ties between Tehran and Baku
sharply intensified.
The Iranian parliament approved a bill on the joint construction of
two hydroelectric power stations with Azerbaijan. The bill allows
construction of power plants near the Araks River in the border area,
in the Iranian city of Marazad and the Azerbaijani city of Ordubad.
The document provides for cooperation in the construction of power
stations at the dams of Khoda Afarin and Gyz Galasy, on the Araks
River, as well as the construction of the Ordubad Power Station on the
Azerbaijani side and the power plant in Marazada on the Iranian side.
The ArmInfo agency reported that if the project is implemented, the
water volumes for the Meghri hydropower plant in Armenia may simply
not be enough. Earlier, adviser to the Minister of Energy
Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia Areg Galstyan stated
that due to environmental problems related to the reduction of water
volumes in the Araks River, as well as the increase of water intakes
from Turkey in the northern part of Armenia, it was necessary to
revise this project in the direction of power reduction. If initially
it was planned to build two stations (Meghri - Armenia, Karachilar -
Iran) for 130 MW each and a total power generation of about 850
million kW per year, now the option is considered with a capacity of
100 MW. In this regard, the diameter of the tunnel has been changed,
along which water will flow between the two hydroelectric power
stations.

                                        Wednesday, 
Armenia’s Former Top Judge Wounded In Gun Attack
        • Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - Arman Mkrtumian, chairman of the Court of Cassation, at a news 
conference in Yerevan, 3 April 2009.
Arman Mkrtumian, the former powerful head of Armenia’s highest criminal court, 
was shot and lightly wounded late on Tuesday in a reported armed attack on his 
house carried out by gunmen.
Police said Mkrtumian’s 30-year-old son fired a gas pistol at the three masked 
attackers armed with assault rifles when they burst into the villa located in 
Dzoraghbyur, a village just outside Yerevan. One of the gunmen was wounded and 
caught by the Mkrtumians while the two others fled the scene, firing random 
gunshots in the process, according to a police statement.
The police also released a short video showing the alleged attacker who was 
identified as Hovannes Ryzhenko, a 45-year-old resident of Gyumri. The man had 
blood on his face and a bandage wrapped around his head.
“The neutralized person was detained,” Sona Truzian, a spokeswoman for 
Armenia’s Investigative Committee, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Wednesday. 
She said law-enforcement authorities are taking “all necessary measures” to 
track down the other attackers.
The authorities did not immediately suggest any motives behind the gun attack. 
The Investigative Committee opened a criminal inquiry under an article of the 
Armenian Criminal Code dealing with “banditry.”
Mkrtumian received medical treatment at Yerevan’s Erebuni hospital shortly 
after incident. A hospital official said he refused hospitalization despite 
sustaining a gunshot wound. The retired judge made no public statements on the 
attack.
Mkrtumian, 57, headed Armenia’s Court of Cassation for ten years. He resigned 
in early June more than one month after mass protests brought down the 
country’s previous government headed by Serzh Sarkisian.
Throughout his tenure Mkrtumian was accused by lawyers of severely limiting the 
independence of lower courts. In June 2013, for example, about 200 lawyers went 
on a two-day strike to protest against what they called arbitrary decisions 
routinely made by the Court of Cassation.
Yerevan Hopes For Lower Russian Gas Price
        • Tatev Danielian
Armenia - Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller speaks at a ceremony in Yerevan, 
16Apr2015.
The Armenian government will ask Russia’s Gazprom giant to cut the price of its 
natural gas supplied to Armenia during upcoming negotiations, Energy Minister 
Artur Grigorian said on Wednesday.
Armenia currently pays $150 per thousand cubic meters of Russian gas imported 
via Georgia. By comparison, the Russian gas price for Europe stands at around 
$230 per thousand cubic meters.
The Armenian side and Gazprom were expected to review the tariff late last 
year. But visiting Yerevan in October 2017, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry 
Medvedev said the “special price” will remain unchanged until the end of 2018. 
Alexei Miller, the Gazprom chairman, accompanied Medvedev on the trip.
Grigorian said that Armenian officials and Gazprom executives will start 
negotiations on a new gas deal in November. “We will do everything to get a gas 
price that’s lower than the existing one,” he told a news conference.
The minister did not specify the extent of the price reduction that will be 
sought by Yerevan.
Armenia’s Gazprom-owned gas distribution network cut its retail fees for 
households and corporate consumers in November 2016, more than two months after 
Karen Karapetian was appointed as the country’s prime minister. Karapetian 
managed the network from 2001-2010 and held senior executive positions in 
Gazprom subsidiaries in Russia from 2011-2016.
He was replaced as prime minister by Serzh Sarkisian in April this year just a 
few weeks before mass protests brought down Armenia’s former government. The 
protest leader, Nikol Pashinian, took over as prime minister in early May.
So far the Russian government and Gazprom have given no indications that they 
are ready sell gas to Armenia at a deeper discount. Some analysts have 
suggested that with Karapetian no longer in government the Russians could 
actually raise the existing price.
Gazprom accounts for over 80 percent of Armenia’s annual gas imports. The South 
Caucasus country also buys gas from neighboring Iran. Officials in Yerevan have 
for years insisted that Russian gas is cheaper than Iranian gas.
Grigorian revealed that Yerevan is now discussing with Tehran the possibility 
of a lower Iranian gas price for Armenia. “I think that very soon we will have 
the final gas price declared by the Iranian side, which will certainly be 
compared with the price of Russian gas,” he said.
Press Review
“Robert Kocharian says that he is returning to active politics in order to 
defend his honor and dignity,” “Zhamanak” writes in a commentary on the former 
Armenian president’s interview with a Russian TV channel aired on Tuesday. The 
paper says Kocharian essentially blamed Serzh Sarkisian for the recent 
revolution in Armenia, saying that his successor should not have tried to cling 
to power.
“Hayots Ashkhar” says Kocharian’s political comeback has been one of the most 
important political developments of this summer. “This is only the beginning,” 
the paper says in reference of the former president’s recent moves and 
statements.
“Zhoghovurd” notes the readiness of Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia 
(HHK) to cooperate with Kocharian. The paper finds it natural, saying that 
Kocharian’s and Sarkisian’s interests “again converge now.” “They are now 
united by the criminal investigation into the March 1 [2008 violence,]” it 
says. “Driven by their self-defense instincts, they now have to join forces and 
fight together.” The paper says that the HHK and its spokesman Eduard 
Sharmazanov in particular criticized Kocharian in the not so distant past. 
“During Serzh Sarkisian’s presidency Kocharian voiced criticism of the 
authorities from time to time and Sharmazanov was the first to counter it, 
often using crude language.”
“Even under the former authorities there were people who warned that enslaving 
the judicial system is a dangerous path that lays the foundation of a vicious 
tradition of courts serving some people today and others tomorrow,” 
editorializes “Hraparak.” The paper says Kocharian and Sarkisian are now paying 
the consequences of their tight grip on the judiciary. “[Kocharian] hopes now 
that the judicial system is not that devastated and crushed and will dare to go 
against the will of the new authorities and rule in his favor,” it says.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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