Author: Kanayan Tamar

Lavrov claims US has biolabs in Armenia, Kazakhstan

Kanayan Tamar
TeleTrader



Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed in an interview with RT Arabic published on Thursday that biological laboratories funded by the United States exist in Armenia, as well as several Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan.

“There are such [biological] laboratories in Armenia, Kazakhstan and in the countries of Central Asia,” Lavrov stated and added Russia is looking to conclude “memorandums of cooperation on biological safety, involving mutual informing about how biological programs” with these countries. “Transparency is important to ensure that these programs do not have a military dimension, as this is prohibited by the Convention [on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons]. These memorandums involve mutual visits and familiarization with the activities of laboratories. In addition, it is written that biological each of our parties should not have military representatives of any third party,” he added.

Earlier, Moscow accused the US of operating biological laboratories in Ukraine, which Washington denied.

Baha Breaking News (BBN) / NP


Forecast: Very soon Moscow will try to return its dominant role in the big game of the South Caucasus.

Kanayan Tamar
ARMINFO
Armenia –
David Stepanyan

ArmInfo.Very soon, Moscow will try to return its dominant role in the big game in the South Caucasus. Political strategist Vigen Hakobyan expressed a similar opinion to  ArmInfo.

“I don’t think that the Russia will try to fit itself and its own  interests into a negotiating format supervised by others, in  particular, in Brussels. I expect that there will be some turns that  will allow Moscow to return to the great game of the Caucasus,” he  said.

According to the political strategist, at this stage, Moscow is  trying to stay in the processes supervised by the West, with the  participation of Armenia and Azerbaijan, perfectly understanding and  seeing the attempts of Yerevan and Baku to finally fit into the  Brussels format. Hakobyan explains the current passivity of the  Russia by the Turkish factor. In his opinion, in this way Moscow is  trying to avoid the prospect of confrontation now with Ankara.

The political strategist explains the current activity of the EU and  the US in the Caucasian direction by the desire to form a new front  for Russia, now in the South Caucasus, using for this purpose the  Armenian- Azerbaijani contradictions in general and the issue of  Artsakh in particular. That is why, first of all, they are trying to  deprive Russia of the moderation of the negotiation process

“In reality, either Russia or Turkey can be the moderator of the  region. Accordingly, the West is actually, rather hastily, trying to  lead processes in the Turkish direction. This is due to their  awareness of the prospect of lowering their capabilities in the  Caucasus after the stabilization of the situation in Ukraine,” he  summed up. 

Armenia Migration Service chief reaches agreements over exchange of experience within frames of IMRF in NYC

Kanayan Tamar

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 16:58,

YEREVAN, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS. On the sidelines of the International Migration Review Forum in New York, the Head of the Migration Service of Armenia Armen Ghazaryan had bilateral meetings with the delegation of Denmark in the face of Hanne Stig Andersen, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, Joost Klarenbeek, Special Envoy for Migration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Jenny Ohlsson, the State Secretary to Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden, the Migration Service of Armenia said in a news release.

Armen Ghazaryan discussed with the sides both the current and possible cooperation issues, the readmission processes, presented the asylum system in Armenia, particularly the construction of a new special shelter for asylum seekers. The partners considered the opportunity of expanding the framework of the activity in Armenia.

Ghazaryan highlighted the digitization of processes as the Armenian government’s priority in the field of migration management.

Armen Ghazaryan and international partners agreed also over the exchange of experience in the future.

Sports: Armenian weightlifters to compete at European Championships in Albania

Kanayan Tamar
Panorama
Armenia – May 16 2022

SPORT 14:59 16/05/2022 ARMENIA

The Armenian men’s and women’s weightlifting teams will compete at the 2022 European Weightlifting Championships to be held in Tirana, Albania, from 28 May to 5 June.

The National Olympic Committee has unveiled the lineups of the teams.

Accordingly, the men’s team includes Rafik Harutyunyan (81 kg), Karen Margaryan (81 kg), Andranik Karapetyan (89 kg), Vardan Manukyan (89 kg); Ara Aghanyan (96 kg), Davit Hovhannisyan (96 kg), Samvel Gasparyan (102 kg), Arsen Martirosyan (109 kg), Varazdat Lalayan (+ 109kg) and Gor Minasyan (+ 109 kg). All athletes are from Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri and the town of Etchmiadzin.

The women’s team is composed of Izabella Yailyan (55 kg); Tatev Hakobyan (76 kg) and Hripsime Khorshudyan (87 kg).

U.S. Ambassador praises Nikol Pashinyan and his political team

Kanayan Tamar
NEWS.am
Armenia –
15:19, 20.05.2022

There should be no restrictions when it comes to freedom of speech and journalists’ work, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy said.

Her remarks came at the Armenian Democracy Forum on Friday.

She urged to take into account in Armenia those points that are criticized, reminding that there is also room for improvement in the fight against corruption, pointing to the huge number of challenges.

Speaking on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s view that citizens must be prepared to be participants in democracy, the Ambassador said this is an important factor for democracy to develop.

She noted that support is important in such spheres as the rights of women, people with disabilities, LGBT and cooperation with the Armenian government can provide development. She expressed her conviction that these categories of citizens need special attention.

Tracy reiterated that since 1992, the U.S. has allocated nearly $3 billion to improve living standards in Armenia. She expressed her gratitude to the Prime Minister of Armenia and Armenian people noting that cooperation would not be possible without the willingness to reap the benefits of support.

“The United States gained a good partner in person of the Armenian government. We are working in various areas that are aimed at promoting democracy, building democratic institutions, the fight against corruption, and economic development,” she said.

She highlighted the reforms of the electoral system carried out with the USA’s support during the last four years.

According to Lynne Tracy, the most important investments are in the sphere of human capital development because it is impossible to succeed in other spheres without it. She expressed her support for education, and retraining of journalists,” the U.S. ambassador concluded.

Yerevan subway traffic disrupted amid protests

Kanayan Tamar

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 12:38,

YEREVAN, MAY 18, ARMENPRESS. The operation of the Yerevan metro has been paralyzed amid the anti-government protests, the Yerevan Subway said in a statement.

“The citizens carried out a protest action in Yeritasardakan metro station, disrupting the traffic of the subway.

At the moment the doors of all metro stations are closed to avoid overcrowding”, the Yerevan Subway said, adding that additional information will be provided as soon as the subway traffic is restored.

CivilNet: Battling Azerbaijan’s armenophobic policies and Armenia’s domestic human rights challenges

Kanayan Tamar
CIVILNET.AM

11 May, 2022 07:05

Kristine Grigoryan, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, discusses her office’s priorities regarding Armenia’s various internal and external human rights challenges. Ms. Grigoryan also talks about whether the Human Rights Defender’s Office has sufficient resources to conduct its activities, and what she and her team are doing with regard to police brutality.

Baku responds to Pashinyan`s statements about POWs and accuses Yerevan of insincerity

Kanayan Tamar
ARMINFO
Armenia –
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo.Baku reacted to the statements of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan about the prisoners of war.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that they consider the  accusations voiced by Pashinyan during his visit to the Netherlands  “unfounded and calling into question the sincerity of Yerevan in the  issue of normalizing relations with Baku and achieving peace in the  region.”

“The baseless accusations made by the Prime Minister of Armenia  against Azerbaijan, including far from reality claims on humanitarian  issues, show that the Armenian leadership is not at all sincere in  the issue of normalizing relations between the two countries.  Providing maps of minefields by Armenia is not a “humanitarian  gesture”, it is was Yerevan’s commitment in the framework of the  tripartite statement dated November 10, 2020. After the signing of  this document, 219 people became victims of mines in Azerbaijan, and  these are mostly civilians, said Abdullayeva. As for the accusations  of not returning the detained Armenians, Baku considers them  saboteurs, sent to the territory of Azerbaijan after the end of the  war. Unfounded accusations against Azerbaijan cast doubt on Armenia’s  readiness to act in the name of peace,” said Leyla Abdullayeva,  spokeswoman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Thus, from the logic of Abdullayeva, it turns out that only Yerevan  has obligations under the agreement, and they are not obligatory for  Baku. It is also worth noting that in the tripartite statement there  is not a word about the transfer of maps of minefields, however,  paragraph 8 of the statement of November 9, 2020 states the need for  an exchange of prisoners of war and detainees on the principle of  “all for all”.

It should be noted that on May 11 in the Netherlands, Pashinyan  touched upon the issue of the return of Armenian prisoners held by  Baku. He expressed regret that, despite the statement of November 9,  2020, in response to the calls of many international organizations,  the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, taken prisoner during the  44-day war, have not yet been returned. “This is the practice of  using people for political purposes and turning them into an object  of trade, which is very reprehensible,” Nikol Pashinyan said,  stressing that it was in order to avoid such bargaining that he once  decided to transfer to Azerbaijan all the maps of minefields at his  disposal. The Armenian side hoped that this humanitarian step would  be followed by another humanitarian step.  “Nevertheless, today at  least 38 of our prisoners of war remain in Azerbaijan (according to  unofficial data, there are many more – ed. note). Attempts are  constantly being made to make this process the subject of bidding on  a variety of topics. By the way, for the last time in the presence of  the President of the European Council, the President of Azerbaijan  promised to release another group of prisoners, but this has not  happened yet. I think it is impossible to talk about peace, ignoring  the humanitarian side of the issue, we have shown this in practice,”  Nikol Pashinyan said. 

Reuters: Armenian police detain protesters calling for PM to step down (May 5)

Kanayan Tamar
May 5 2022
Reuters
  • PM under pressure over disputed region
  • Protesters block roads in capital
  • Armenia, Azerbaijan fought six-week war in 2020

TBILISI, May 5 (Reuters) – Police detained dozens of protesters who marched and blocked roads in Armenia’s capital Yerevan on Thursday calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over his handling of the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis.

Local television footage showed officers grabbing protesters and dragging them into vans. Police said they had detained 49 protesters as of midday.

The landlocked South Caucasus country has seen a string of protests in recent days as pressure mounts on the embattled premier. read more

Pashinyan has faced heavy criticism for agreeing to a Russian-brokered ceasefire that saw Armenia defeated by Azerbaijan in a six-week war in 2020 and lose significant territory in and around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russia is a close ally of Armenia. It has a military base in the northwest of the country and sent peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh under the accord that ended the fighting.

Asked about Moscow’s position on the protests, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was entirely a domestic issue for Armenia.

“We are interested in this period ending in Armenia as soon as possible and for a period of stability to resume, allowing us to gradually move towards the implementation of the trilateral agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh,” Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

Pashinyan angered the opposition last month when he said the international community had urged Armenia to “lower the bar” on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated and until recently fully controlled by ethnic Armenians.

Azerbaijan said last month it was ready for negotiations on a peace treaty with Armenia, but said Yerevan needed to renounce any claim on its territory. read more

Pashinyan – who says he agreed to the Russian-brokered ceasefire in 2020 to avoid further losses- has insisted he will not sign any peace deal with Azerbaijan without consulting ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Heavens