Author: Karagyozian Lena

ITAR-TASS, Russia
December 01, 2017 Friday 1:51 PM GMT
Kiev fails to fulfil its duties as PABSEC chair - Russian foreign ministry
MOSCOW December 1
Ukraine has failed to perform its duties as the chair of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC),
the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday.
MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Ukraine has failed to perform its duties
as the chair of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation (PABSEC), the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday.
"It is becoming clear that Ukraine is failing to fulfil its
obligations as the PABSEC chair: there are violations of the general
norms and principles of work of multilateral organizations, the
failure to provide full-format participation in the events for
delegations and a breach of the basic principles of parliamentarism,"
the ministry stressed.
The ministry reiterated that the Russian parliamentary delegation has
not received an invitation to the PABSEC General Assembly session in
Kiev, "which also violates the order of the PABSEC operation."
"Unfortunately, these violations of the delegations’ rights occur
under the passive eye of its other members. This issue is thought to
require a serious discussion within the Assembly," the Foreign
Ministry stated.
"As for the Ukrainian amendments themselves, they were introduced to a
pre-agreed draft declaration at the last moment and had a provocative
character," the ministry noted. "The Ukrainians abused, in fact, their
chairmanship functions, having ‘twisted the PABSEC delegates’ arms’
and achieved the adoption of non-balanced wordings that go beyond the
economic theme that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation should be dealing with."
"Moreover, the final declaration of the session that was dedicated to
the 25th anniversary of the Assembly and had to be steeped in the
spirit of unification fell prey to Ukraine’s destructive aspirations,"
the ministry noted.
The Foreign Ministry also pointed out that, according to the received
information, "Ukraine’s chairmanship in fact barred the Armenian
parliamentary delegation from joint work on the amendments and the
final declaration on the issues of fundamental nature." "The Armenian
delegation finally had to leave the conference hall in protest," the
ministry reported.
PABSEC-2017
The PABSEC was established on February 26, 1993, and includes 12
countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Armenia, Greece, Georgia,
Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. According to the
organization’s regulations, on July 6, 2017, Ukraine took over the
PABSEC chairmanship for a six-month term. Albania will be chairing the
PABSEC for the next six months.
This year Russia did not participate in the PABSEC session in Kiev due
to the absence of an invitation from Ukraine which had to be sent by
Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andrey Paruby. The head of the Russian
delegation at this organization, Mikhail Yemelyanov, called it an
unprecedented case.
The offensive incident occurred when Armenia’s delegation was not
invited to discuss the final text of the declaration. According to
Armenia’s parliament, the PABSEC General Assembly finally adopted the
declaration with regard to Ukraine’s amendment on the necessity to
help restore the territorial integrity of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation member states which runs counter to "the comprehensive
principles of the international law: the principles of the non-use of
force and the threat of force, territorial integrity and the peoples’
rights to free self-determination." The Armenian delegation left the
PABSEC conference hall in Kiev in protest.

Azeri-Press news agency (APA), Azerbaijan
 Saturday
Ilham Aliyev: Partnership with EU is one of key priorities of
Azerbaijan's foreign policy
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended the European Union`s
Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels at the invitation of President
of the European Council Donald Tusk.
The head of state addressed the plenary session of the summit, APAreported.
The Azerbaijani president said that the partnership with the European
Union is one of the key priorities of Azerbaijan's foreign policy.
'This year in February, we started active negotiations on a new
agreement. I hope these negotiations will end soon. This agreement
will create opportunities for further cooperation between our
countries. The European Union is the major trade partner of
Azerbaijan. Fifty percent of the country's trade accounts for the
share of EU member countries. Since Azerbaijan gained its
independence, the investments of the European Union to the Azerbaijani
economy have exceeded $20 billion. This demonstrates the presence of a
good investment climate,' the president said.
The head of state noted that Azerbaijan continues its policy of
political and economic reforms.
'We attach great importance to the development of democracy,
protection of human rights and we are strictly committed to it. We
have reduced the unemployment rate to 5 percent. Foreign debt,
compared to gross domestic product, is low than 20 percent,' the
president added.
President Ilham Aliyev said that the main challenge that Azerbaijan
faces, is the continuation of the Armenian occupation of its
territories: 'Almost twenty percent of the internationally recognized
territory of Azerbaijan is under occupation by Armenia more than 20
years. As a result of the occupation, more than one million
Azerbaijani people have become refugees and internally displaced and
we have been exposed to ethnic cleansing policy. The UN Security
Council has adopted four resolutions which demand immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from our territories,
which are not fulfilled by Armenia. Separatism, aggressive separatism
are intolerable in the 21st century. All forms of separatism must be
condemned and a single approach to all aspects of separatism should be
applied. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has the same value as
the territorial integrity of any other state and it must be restored.'
Referring to the energy policy, the president noted that Azerbaijan is
closely cooperating with the European institutions in this sphere.
'The Southern Gas Corridor, a large-scale energy project, is worth
over $40 billion and it will allow us to extract more natural gas and
transport it from Azerbaijan to European markets. The 3500-kilometer
gas pipeline will be a new route and will carry gas to the European
market from news sources. This is a policy of energy diversification
along with the energy security policy. Thus, Azerbaijan's gas fields
will be only new natural gas source of Europe and the pipeline will
significantly change the energy map of the European continent.
Azerbaijan's proven gas reserves are at the level of 2.6 trillion
cubic meters which will be enough to transport natural gas to Europe
in the coming decades,' said Ilham Aliyev.

The Sun, UK
 Tuesday 1:31 PM GMT
HAVE A KHIT-KAT Henrikh Mkhitaryan looks lonely in training as he
fights for Manchester United career
Armenian was dropped for Man Utd's 4-1 win over Newcastle but has
clearly missed Paul Pogba - who is now fit and firing again
By Alex Terrell
HENRIKH MKHITARYAN has seemed cut off in the last couple of months -
largely thanks to Paul Pogba's absence.
But the Armenian star looked a forlorn figure at Carrington today as
he sat on his own before joining in Manchester United training.Jose
Mourinho rested the former Borussia Dortmund man for their 4-1 home
win over Newcastle on Saturday evening.
But it hasn't stopped reports that the Portuguese is growing fed up
with the 28-year-old's performances, just 16 months after joining Old
Trafford.
To be fair to Mkhitaryan, he has been involved in all of United's
matches in the league and Europe this season, as well as both of
Armenia's friendlies last week, before missing Saturday.
And he has clearly missed the midfield presence of Pogba, classily
knitting together United's midfield play, as he did in the win over
the Toon.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan performs training drills ahead of Antonio Valencia
at Carrington before Manchester United's game at Basel[/caption]
Elsewhere Pogba and pal Romelu Lukaku could be seen enjoying a joke together.
The Red Devils are due to fly out to Switzerland to face FC Basel in
their Champions League fixture, knowing a draw will see them win Group
A outright.UNSTOPPAPLE?
Can anyone stop the Man City juggernaut walking the Premier League title?
Basel are in a scrap for second place though, with CSKA Moscow
breathing down their necks.
In fact, if CSKA fail to beat Benfica at home, United seal
qualification before even kicking a ball tomorrow night.
Ashley Young wonders if he has found his target after booting the ball[/caption]
Jose Mourinho has a chat with Nemanja Matic and Zlatan Ibrahimovic[/caption]
Mourinho's side have won all their four games so far and conceded just
one goal in the competition, away in Moscow.
They should be home and dry in Europe, but Chris Smalling, Phil Jones,
Ashley Young and David De Gea will remind their team-mates that the
last time they went to St-Jakob Park, they were beaten 2-1 in an
electric atmosphere.
Jones actually scored that night in Switzerland, but it was only to be
a consolation as United crashed out of the Champions League in a group
stage humiliation, just months after playing in the previous season's
final.
And Mourinho will hope they can keep another clean sheet against the
Swiss champions.
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The Red Devils face Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday at 3pm,
suggesting Mourinho could rotate some of his squad with the busiest
period of the season approaching.
United then travel to Watford on Tuesday and then Arsenal the weekend
after, for a late Saturday kick-off before a clash against CSKA Moscow
at Old Trafford in their final Champions League group game.
After that is the small matter of the Manchester derby at the Theatre
of Dreams on December 12.