Author: Tambiyan Samvel

Henrikh Mkhitaryan found the net v Sunderland and spoke to after the game..

— Manchester United (@ManUtd)

Manchester United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan was naturally delighted to find the net in Sunday’s 3-0 win over Sunderland, and is targeting more goals as the Reds continue to push for a top-four finish.

It took the Armenian just 47 seconds of the second half to notch his eighth goal of the season, a strike that added to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s superb opener and all but ensured victory against the home side, who had been reduced to 10 men just before the break.

Marcus Rashford added a third in the dying minutes of the match to seal the win, which Mkhitaryan believes could prove to be “very important” for the Reds.

“It was a very important game and an important win after two draws,” he told MUTV after the game. “We have done everything to win; we knew it would not be easy but it was most important that we played well and we won 3-0.

“I think it was very important to score the second goal because the game was not over and then they had a little bit of control in the second half but, thanks to my team-mates, they could help me to score. At the end we scored the third one and the game was already over.

“I am always happy to score, not only to score but also to assist; it doesn’t matter to me. I am always working and I want to score as many goals as I can. Scoring goals is always enjoyable.”

Attention now turns to Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Anderlecht in Brussels. Mkhitaryan has impressed in the competition this season, scoring crucial goals away to Zorya Luhansk, Saint-Etienne and, more recently, FC Rostov in the last round.

“It’s going to be a very important game against Anderlecht,” he added. “It will be a very tough game because it’s not going to be easy against Anderlecht. They are a very good team with very good young players and I think we have to be ready to have a very good game.”

The allied relations and strategic partnership between Russia and Armenia have become really all-embracing by the time the two countries mark the 25th anniversary since the date of establishing diplomatic relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an article published on Monday by the Novoye Vremya newspaper in Yerevan.

“April 3, 2017, marks a significant event the 25th anniversary since the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia established diplomatic relations,” he indicated. “This date marks a new stage in Russian-Armenian ties that have centuris-old history.”

Lavrov recalled the traditions of friendship and mutual assistance uniting Russia and Armenia, as well as cultural and spiritual kinship.

“We really have something to take pride in,” he said. “We’ve managed to multiply the invaluable heritage of Russian-Armenian friendship over the past quarter of a century, to take interstate cooperation to a quality new level and to reach impressive results in the key areas where we invest our efforts together.”

He added that Moscow and Yerevan are developing political dialogue, parliamentary relations, activities of intergovernmental commissions in the economy and defense technologies, and an inter-parliamentary commission.

“Thus relations of alliance and strategic partnership that rely on the August 29, 1997, treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance, and on the September 26, 2000, declaration of alliance and cooperation are really all-embracing,” Lavrov said.

Moscow welcomes Yerevan’s effort aimed at providing humanitarian aid to civilians in Syria, Russia’s top diplomat said.

Lavrov pointed out to close cooperation between Moscow and Yerevan on major multilateral platforms. “Together with Yerevan, we have been making efforts aimed at using the significant potential of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). We have also been boosting political interaction within the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC),” Lavrov added.

“We welcome Armenia’s contribution to the common effort to provide aid to the Syrian civilians,” the Russian foreign minister stressed.

According to Lavrov, today, the two countries “are facing large-scale common tasks on ensuring the prosperity of Russia and Armenia, maintaining peace, stability and security in the South Caucasus.”

“Together with our Armenian friends, we continue the work directed at effectively solving these tasks for the good of our peoples,” Lavrov wrote. “The solid foundation of the Russian-Armenian cooperation, friendly and respectful relations between our two peoples, based on mutual trust, are the key to success.”

A plane carrying the Kazakh national football team had to make an emergency landing at Yerevan airport.

“The aircraft captain made a decision to return to the airport after the takeoff,” official spokesperson of the team Yerbol Kairov tweeted.

“The team’s aircraft had to return to Yerevan because of landing gear malfunction,” he said.

Armenian beat Kazakhstan 2:0 in the 2018 World Cup qualifier on Sunday.

Multinational content delivery network (CDN) provider Cloudflare has announced that it plans to launch a series of new data centres across five continents, beginning with a facility in Yerevan, Armenia.

The new centre will be Cloudflare’s 103rd data centre globally. The company hopes that the new deployment will allow for greater speed, agility and security for approximately 6 million internet platforms, serving traffic to Armenia and neighbouring countries.

“Yerevan, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, has a rich history going back all the way to 782 BC. Famous for its cognac, lavash flatbread, and beautiful medieval churches, Armenia is also home to more chess grandmasters per capita than most countries,” Cloudflare said in a statement.

 

 

 

 

If parliamentary elections were held next Sunday, which political force would Armenian citizens vote for? The Armenia Office of the Gallup International Association has carried out a public opinion poll to reveal the initial rating of the political forces running for parliament and to find out which parties and alliances are likely to cross the threshold of 5% and 7% respectively.

The survey was conducted among 1,146 adults  all over Armenia from February 23 to March 2. Gallup International Association’s Armenia Office Director Aram Navasardyan presented the results to reporters today.

If the elections were held next Sunday, which political party or alliance would you vote for?

Tsarukyan Alliance – 26.4%
Republican Party of Armenia – 22.8%
Yelk Alliance – 4.3%
Armenian Revolutionary Federation – 3.9%
Free Democrats Party – 3.4%
Armenian Renaissance – 2.7%
Congress-people’s Party Alliance – 2.6%
Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian alliance – 1.8%
Communist Party of Armenia – 1%

Aram Navasardyan said 14.1%of participants refused to respond, another 17% found it hard to answer. He said, however, that the election campaign can change much. Besides, Ashot Navasardyan said, the study has not referred to regional voting, which, he said, could also affect the indices of lower-ranked forces.

According to the results of the poll, 59% of respondents say they will definitely participate in the elections, 25.7% are likely to participate, 4.3% are likely not to participate, while 7.1 will definitely not participate in the voting.

Aram Navasardyan said they expect 50-60% voter turnout.

Iskander missile systems supplied by Russia in 2016 are owned and managed by the Armenian Armed Forces, Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan told .

The WBO eliminator at super middleweight between former WBA light heavyweight contender Robin Krasniqi (46-4) and and former WBO champ Arthur Abraham (45-5) will go ahead April 22 at the Congress Center in Erfurt,  reports.

It´s a fine matchup with the winner heading for a world title fight while loser faces a long way back.

Photo: Reuters

President Vladimir Put
in has sent condolences after a Russian air strike accidentally killed three Turkish soldiers in northern Syria, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, Sputnik reports.

Peskov said that Russia and Turkey will jointly investigate the deadly incident. The Kremlin spokesman said that Putin told Erdogan that Turkish soldiers had died as a result of lack of coordination regarding coordinates during Russian military jets’ strikes in Syria.

Russia and Turkey will improve coordination of activities in Syria after the unintentional strike, Peskov said.

The Russian and Turkish presidents held a phone conversation earlier on Thursday. Putin expressed condolences to Erdogan over the deaths of Turkish soldiers near Syria’s al-Bab, the Kremlin said earlier. They to expand military coordination during the operation against militants from Daesh and other extremist groups in Syria.

Earlier in the day, the Turkish General Staff said that an accidental Russian airstrike killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded 11 others in northern Syria.

On an official visit to Iran, Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan visited the editorial office of the Armenian Alik daily.

During the meeting with the editorial staff, Vigen Sargsyan spoke about Armenian-Iranian relations, the ongoing work at the Armed Forces and the future plans. He presented the achievements of the Army and answered questions. The Defense Minister briefed the attendees on the provisions of the “Army-nation”idea.

The delegation headed by Vigen Sargsyan later visited the Tehran Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and met with Prelate, Archbishop Sepuh Sargsyan and representatives of the Armenian community.

The Defense Minister hailed the constructive role of the Armenian Church and Diaspora organizations in the preservation of the Armenian identity, as well as the reinforcement of Armenian-Iranian friendly relations and their further development.