Author: Khoyetsian Rose

Opposition in Armenia reacts to Vanetsyan’s resignation

Khoyetsian Rose
PanARMENIAN
Armenia – June 21 2022
June 21, 2022 – 17:51 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Ex-lawmaker Armen Ashotyan from the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia has said that they share the same strategic goals with the opposition forces, but the parties, including the RPA, can come up with different tactical solutions.

Ashotyan’s remarks came after MP from the “I Have Honor”, Chairman of Homeland party Artur Vanetsyan has resigned on Tuesday, June 21.

“I respect the decision of Arthur Vanetsyan and the “Homeland” party,” Ashotyan said. “For us, too, parliamentary mandates have never been and are not an end in themselves.”

Ishkhan Saghatelyan, the Deputy Speaker of parliament and member of the opposition Armenia bloc, weighed in on Vanetsyan’s decision and said that everyone decides their own political line.

“We have one goal, and everyone has their own roadmap to achieve that goal,” he said.

Vanetsyan went on a sit-in in mid-April and launched a campaign against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government, which was later joined by other opposition parties. Pashinian came under fire after he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed to start drafting a bilateral peace treaty to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and set up a joint commission on demarcating the borders.

Sports: SADA Cup։ Winning start of Armenian team

Khoyetsian Rose
NEWS.am
Armenia – June 22 2022

Armenian men’s basketball team got off to a winning start at SADA Cup international tournament held at Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex.

The Armenian team led by Rex Kalamian defeated Team USA with a score of 94-59.

Armenia’s next opponent will be Iran. The game will take place on 25 June. The Syrian team also takes part in the tournament.

PM Pashinyan, the German Ambassador discuss the agenda of the Armenian-German partnership

Khoyetsian Rose

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 18:00,

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Armenia Victor Richter, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of relations with Germany, which is Armenia’s largest trade and economic partner among the EU countries, and expressed confidence that the high level political dialogue will further promote mutually beneficial cooperation.

Ambassador Richter noted that Germany is interested in developing cooperation with Armenia and reaffirms its support for Armenia’s democratic reforms.

The interlocutors discussed the prospects for deepening Armenian-German ties. Expressing satisfaction with the programs implemented within the framework of the bilateral agenda, Nikol Pashinyan considered intensive agriculture a promising direction. The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany welcomed the Prime Minister’s proposal and mentioned also the joint programs in the fields of SME, energy, water management, e-governance, finance and other spheres. The sides attaches importance to the activities of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Reconstruction Credit Institute (KfW) in Armenia.

During the meeting the sides also touched upon regional developments and work on unblocking the communication routes. PM Pashinyan and Ambassador Richter exchanged views on the situation in Nagorno Karabakh.

The Prime Minister presented Armenia’s positions on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the peace agenda announced by the Armenian Government. Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status remains unresolved, it should be settled within the framework of the internationally recognized format, under the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. The Prime Minister touched upon the issues of the return of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees still being held in Azerbaijan, the protection and preservation of the Armenian historical and cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russia lifts all restrictions on entry of Armenian citizens through land border

Khoyetsian Rose

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 19:50,

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Russia has lifted all restrictions on entry of Armenian citizens across the land border, which will contribute to the development of tourism and economic ties, ARMENPRESS reports Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Minsk.

“According to the government’s decision, all restrictions for Armenian citizens entering Russia by land have been lifted. We expect that tourist flows will be restored in the near future. It is very important for the peoples of Armenia and Russia,” Mishustin said.

The Russian Prime Minister also stressed that the Russian side gives priority to the unblocking of economic and transport ties in the Caucasus.

“Practical work is being actively carried out within the framework of the trilateral working group chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers. (ed. Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan). The regular meeting took place during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum,” Mishustin said.

US to provide up to $400,000 for peace program between peoples of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey

Khoyetsian Rose
News.am
Armenia –
17:23, 19.06.2022

The US Embassy in Yerevan has announced an open competition for program proposals for Platform 2 of People’s Diplomacy, in which all interested organizations can participate.

The objective of this initiative is to provide the necessary conditions for peace between the peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan and Armenia and Turkey.

The proposed programs may be aimed at research, education, awareness-raising, and confidence-building initiatives.

Execution period of the aforesaid programs will be maximum 12 months, five respective programs will be funded, and this funding will total up to $400,000.

New chief of Armenia’s Civil Aviation named

Khoyetsian Rose
Panorama
Armenia –

Mihran Khachatryan has been installed as new head of Armenia’s Civil Aviation Committee, replacing Tatevik Revazyan.

Nikol Pashinyan signed the relevant decree on Friday.

Revazyan submitted resignation on Monday after four years in office.

“I have decided to return to the world of business,” she said in a statement, without elaborating.

Forecast: Lavrov can no longer impose his "plan" on anyone under the current geopolitical realities

Khoyetsian Rose
ARMINFO
Armenia –
David Stepanyan

ArmInfo. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov can no longer impose his conditional plan- a ready-made solution to the entire complex of problems caused by Artsakh, on  anyone under the current geopolitical realities s. Director of the  Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan expressed a similar opinion  to ArmInfo .

 “Unlike some opinions, according to which the “plan”  begins to be implemented with each visit of Lavrov in Yerevan, in  reality this decision should be agreed with all the players and  interested parties. First of all, it should be accepted by Yerevan,  Baku and Ankara. However, the radical disagreements and  contradictions in the positions of the parties to the conflict in  establishing peace in the region, linking this path with the context  of the Karabakh problem at least indicates that it will be very  difficult to resolve this issue,” he stressed.

As an example of the complexity of the current geopolitical  realities, the political scientist put forward the process of  implementing paragraph 9 of the Trilateral Statement of November 9,  2020. Noting this point, which envisages the possibility of  communication between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan, as the only point  related to any future of the conflict region, Iskandaryan stressed  the absence of any real progress in its implementation.

“Of course, Baku and Ankara are trying to put pressure on Yerevan in  this and other issues, in cooperation with each other, as well as  with Moscow, etc. This is quite normal for politics and geopolitics  and, in principle, there is no other way. The whole question is the  success of such a policy of pressure. We see that so far in this  matter they, let’s say, have not succeeded too much,” he said.

According to the political scientist, Russia, in turn, is working in  the Caucasian direction, including with Azerbaijan and Turkey. And in  general, it does not seek to get involved in difficult situations  anywhere else, except for Ukraine. And the South Caucasus for Russia  is only a part of the Turkish vector of its policy. Just like, for  example, Syria is such a vector. In his opinion, the main directions  of Russian policy are China, as well as Central Asia, the situation  in which is largely due to the same relationship with China.

“And of course, Russia is very busy with the Ukrainian conflict.  Speaking of this, I mean by no means only the military operations on  Ukrainian territory. We are talking about the whole complex of  relations between Russia and the West. In this light, returning to  the South Caucasus, I should admit that Moscow is trying to do  everything to maintain relative stability in the south in the context  of the main direction of its unfinished conflict in Ukrain,”  Iskandaryan concluded. 

11 wounded in military truck rollover in Armenia

Khoyetsian Rose
Panorama
Armenia – June 7 2022

A military vehicle has been involved in a traffic accident in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province, leaving 11 soldiers injured.

The Kamaz truck of the Defense Ministry flipped over on the Yerevan-Meghri highway and overturned on Tuesday morning. 11 servicemen, including 10 conscripts and one officer, have been hospitalized in the wake of the accident.

“One of the soldiers has suffered a rib fracture. The condition of the others is assessed as satisfactory. They mostly have scratches,” the Defense Ministry told Panorama.am.

The cause of the accident is still unknown.

Opposition holds protest outside Armenian Foreign Ministry

Khoyetsian Rose
Panorama
Armenia – June 9 2022

The Armenian opposition on Thursday staged a peaceful protest outside the Foreign Ministry building in central Yerevan set to host a meeting of the Russian and Armenian foreign ministers.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Armenia on a two-day working visit on Wednesday.

Opposition demonstrators demanding Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation marched to the ministry from France Square, holding posters that read “No new capitulation”, “Nikol doesn’t represent us”, “Artsakh can never be part of Azerbaijan” and others.

“There are numerous issues that we should discuss with our strategic ally and resolve. However, it must be done without Nikol, because Nikol does not represent the Armenian people’s will and position,” opposition leader and deputy parliament speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan said at the protest.

“He is a traitor and has no popular mandate,” he stated.

The opposition MP again warned against any settlement which would make Artsakh part of Azerbaijan despite the “approaches of the traitorous authorities”.

“The Armenian people stand with Artsakh,” he stressed.

After delivering the message, opposition protesters returned to France Square, chanting “Armenia without Nikol!” and “Traitor, leave!”.

Situation in Karabakh conflict zone to be on agenda of talks of Russian FM in Turkey

Khoyetsian Rose
ARMINFO
Armenia – June 3 2022
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo. The situation in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be on the agenda of the talks of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Turkey. Official  representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova,  announced this on June 3 during a weekly briefing.

She noted that on June 8 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will  pay a working visit to Ankara for talks with Turkish Foreign Minister  Mevlut Cavusoglu.

“It is planned to discuss the state of and prospects for deepening  bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues of trade and economic  cooperation in the context of the application of illegitimate  sanctions against Russia by the West.

There will also be an exchange of views on topical issues of the  regional and international agenda, primarily on the current situation  in Ukraine, as well as in the Syrian, Libyan and Nagorno-Karabakh  settlement, on the situation in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Central  Asia,” she said.