Saturday,
Armenia, Russia Plan Joint Humanitarian Program In Syria
• Aza Babayan
Russia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with Russian-Armenian
businessmen in Moscow, 8 Sep, 2018
Armenia and Russia will soon implement a joint humanitarian program in Syria,
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said after meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on September 8.
Talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), the head of the Armenian
government stressed that the program will be a completely humanitarian one and
will not contain any military component. Pashinian gave no details of the
program.
The Armenian prime minister also said that during his talks with the Russian
leader they did not address Azerbaijan’s possible accession to the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), an issue that became a topic for
discussions in Armenia in the wake of a relevant statement by a pro-government
Azerbaijani lawmaker.
Ali Huseynli said in late August that Baku should “seriously consider” applying
for membership in the CSTO, saying that would increase chances of a
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement favorable to his country. He also said that the
CSTO gives its member states major military and economic benefits.
If official Baku wishes to do so, “it will be clear what Armenia’s position
will be,” said Pashinian.
Late last month acting Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalian
said that “if Azerbaijan moves to become a member of the CSTO Armenia will use
its veto power [to block its entry].”
As for military-technical cooperation with Russia, the Armenian prime minister
said that “relevant departments will talk about concrete programs.”
Pashinian described the state of Armenian-Russian relations as “brilliant”
after his meeting with Putin. “There are no problems in our relations in any
direction,” he said in a Facebook post shortly after the end of the talks.
The Armenian prime minister repeated that statement at a meeting with dozens of
ethnic Armenian businessmen in Moscow during which he urged them to make
investments in Armenia.
Ex-Armenian PM Charged With Abuse of Power, Illegal Enterprise
• Karine Simonian
Former Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamian
Former Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian has been charged with
“exceeding official authorities” and “Illegally participating in
entrepreneurial activity” as part of a criminal probe into a claim by an
entrepreneur that his business was snatched from him a decade ago.
The Special Investigation Service told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am)
on Saturday that Abrahamian was not taken into custody after pledging not to
leave the country pending investigation.
The Investigation Committee of Armenia earlier said that Abrahamian is
suspected of abusing his powers in 2008 by allegedly forcing a businessman to
give up a majority stake in a mining company that later went to other people,
including the former prime minister’s brother Henrikh Abrahamian.
Witnesses in the case, according to the report, among the people involved in
the alleged abuse also named former police chief and current lawmaker Alik
Sargsian, who is linked with the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia.
Today’s official information makes no mention of Abrahamian’s connection to the
2008 post-election events.
On August 9, law-enforcement authorities launched a probe into Abrahamian’s
possible involvement in the breakup of opposition protests staged in Yerevan
following a disputed presidential election a decade ago.
The National Security Service then arrested Abrahamian’s brother Henrik after
raiding a former industrial plant effectively owned by Hovik Abrahamian. It
claimed to have found a weapons cache there and said the arsenal would be
verified on its possible use against opposition protesters on March 1-2, 2008.
In a separate statement, the security agency said it arrested Henrik Abrahamian
and the property’s formal owner, Ambik Gevorgian, on suspicion of illegal arms
possession.
In a Facebook post on September 8 the former prime minister denounced his
prosecution describing it as a manhunt. Abrahamian said that no illegal items
were found by law-enforcement bodies during searches at the legal address where
he is registered and in the home where he actually lives. He claimed he did not
have anything to do with the property where security officials found the
weapons. “First, they publicly tried to connect that place with me and then the
weapons found there with the March 1-2, 2008 events. It is clear that I was the
target of this series of distortions,” he claimed.
Abrahamian linked the charges brought against him with his September 4
interview to a local news website in which, he said, he criticized the actions
of the authorities. “Immediately after that they pressed ungrounded charges
against me… with the purpose of silencing any dissidence,” he claimed.
“The manhunt and pressure on free speech and dissidence that are being carried
out by the Armenian authorities will not lead to any good place,” Abrahamian
warned.
Abrahamian’s case is the latest in a series of prosecutions against former
government officials launched by Armenian law-enforcement authorities in the
wake of the April-May change of power in the South Caucasus country.
Nikol Pashinian, who came to power as prime minister in the wake of large-scale
anti-government protests led by him, has vowed to stamp out corruption,
monopolies and to deal with other crimes that he believes have not been
detected under the previous governments.
As part of a reopened criminal probe into 2008 post-election violence that left
10 people dead Armenia’s then president Robert Kocharian and several other
former officials have already been charged with “overthrowing the
constitutional order.”
Several members of the extended family of Serzh Sarkisian, who succeeded
Kocharian in 2008 but was forced by the Pashinian-led movement to resign
earlier this year, are also under investigation in connection with different
crimes, including an attempted murder and illegal enrichment.
Abrahamian, 60, held high-ranking state posts and developed extensive business
interests during Kocharian’s and Sarkisian’s tenures. He managed Sarkisian’s
2008 and 2013 presidential election campaigns before being appointed as
Armenia’s prime minister in April 2014.
Abrahamian, who also served as Armenia’s parliament speaker in 2008-2011 and
2012-2014, fell out with Sarkisian a few months after being sacked by the
latter as head of the government in September 2016. He left Sarkisian’s
Republican Party of Armenia in January 2017 and has kept a low profile since
then.
Two Armenian Children Go Into Hiding To Avoid Deportation From Netherlands
NETHERLANDS -- Two Armenian teens, Howick (right), 13, and Lili, 12, pose in
The Hague, August 13, 2018
(RFE/RL) - Two Armenian children who were scheduled to be deported from the
Netherlands have gone into hiding, a Dutch government spokesman said.
Justice Ministry spokesman Maarten Molenbeek said on September 8 that the
minors, who have only been identified as Lili and Howick, went missing from the
foster home where they were staying during the night, hours after an Amsterdam
court rejected their final bid to stop their deportation.
The children, aged 12 and 13, came to the Netherlands with their mother in 2008.
Their asylum claim was rejected by Dutch courts that ruled Armenia is a safe
country.
The children's mother, Armina Hambartsjumian, was deported to Armenia in 2017.
The case has attracted mass public attention, with the children appearing on
national television to plead their case.
The children have never been to Armenia and do not speak Armenian.
Their lawyers argued unsuccessfully that their mother was unable to care for
them properly.
Based on reporting by AFP and AP
Putin, Pashinian Meet In Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian in Moscow, Russia, 8 Sept. 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
praised the current level of relations between the two countries as they met
for talks in Moscow on Saturday.
The Kremlin said the negotiations between the two leaders focused on “key
questions of developing allied Russian-Armenian relations as well as
cooperation in Eurasian territory, in particular, within the Eurasian Economic
Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.”
In his remarks before the meeting Putin said that relations between Moscow and
Yerevan “develop steadily in all directions.”
“This concerns the sphere of political relations, the military sphere, issues
of security and economic cooperation,” the Russian leader said.
Putin singled out Russian energy supplies to Armenia, stressing that Yerevan
receives Russian natural gas “at the lowest prices Gazprom sells gas in the
world – $150 per 1,000 cubic meters.”
Pashinian, for his part, stressed the fact that he was having his third meeting
with Putin within a space of just four months. “I think that such frequency
emphasizes the special nature of relations between our countries, let me say
also the special nature of our personal relations,” the Armenian leader said.
“Despite certain pessimism that is present both in the Armenian and Russian
press and in social media, I think that our relations develop in a fairly
dynamic way, very naturally. And I think our top objective is to try to use the
whole potential in developing our relations.”
Still, Pashinian acknowledged the existence of ‘some questions’ that need to be
discussed by the two countries. “God save us from a situation where we would
have no questions in our relations, because that would mean we have no
relations at all. I can say with certainty that we have no issues in our
relations that can’t be solved, and today, of course, we are going to discuss a
wide range of issues,” he said.
“I am sure that these issues will be solved, and we will be guided by respect
of interests in our allied relations, respect for the interests of our
countries, respect for the sovereignty of our countries and the principle of
non-interference in each other’s internal affairs,” Pashinian underscored.
After the end of his meeting with Putin Pashinian wrote in a Facebook post:
“We’ve had a productive conversation as a result of which we can state that
Armenian-Russian relations are brilliant. There are no problems in our
relations in any direction.”
The Armenian prime minister’s talks in Moscow come after a strong Russian
reaction to Yerevan’s prosecution of a number of former government officials,
including ex-President Robert Kocharian and ex-deputy Defense Minister Yuri
Khachaturov, who currently chairs the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), a Russian-led defense pact of six former Soviet countries, including
Armenia.
Both Kocharian and Khachaturov are accused of breaching the constitutional
order during a deadly postelection crackdown in 2008. After charging
Khachaturov Armenia also initiated a procedure to recall him from the top CSTO
post.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov twice publicly denounced the
prosecutions of former officials in Yerevan, arguing that they ran counter to
the new Armenian leadership’s earlier pledges not to “persecute its
predecessors for political reasons.”
And on August 31, the Kremlin reported a phone conversation between Putin and
Kocharian during which the Russian leader congratulated the former Armenian
president on his birthday – a rare event in state diplomacy that some analysts
took as a sign of Moscow’s backing for Kocharian, who recently announced his
return to active politics.
In his public statements Pashinian downplayed the significance of political
implications behind Putin’s congratulations to Kocharian.
Press Review
The editor of “Aravot” expects that two issues are going to feature prominently
during the Moscow talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian – the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the
relations between the two countries after the revolution in Armenia: “Russia
should understand that it is pointless to talk about serious discussions [on
Nagorno-Karabakh] until Pashinian gets a majority in parliament. As for the
second issue, I think that the Armenian prime minister will speak from the
positions of [Russian] non-interference in our internal affairs. This is, of
course, a correct position. Furthermore, this is the only position that a
leader enjoying the support of a majority of Armenians can have. But there are
diplomatic subtleties that may have a great importance. For example, Armenia
could have recalled Yuri Khachaturov from the post of secretary-general of the
[Russian-dominated] Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and
suggested another candidate before prosecuting the general. It seems to be a
little thing, but not paying attention to such little things may prove damaging
to the cause.”
“Zoghovurd” presents opinions from an article from the EADaily (Eurasian News)
website headlined “Three Friendly Pieces of Advice To Pashinian Ahead of His
Visit to Russia.” The article suggests that Putin has chosen to bet on former
Armenian President Robert Kocharian [to return to power] and refuses to see
Pashinian as Armenia’s leader in the long run. “Tensions in [Yerevan’s]
relations with Moscow are strictly counter-indicative,” the article says,
noting that in Moscow “no one wants to tolerate the mistakes of the new
Armenian government for a long time.” In this sense the publication advises
that Pashinian be “careful in taking any step that immediately has to do with
Russian interests, as well as Russian interests within the CSTO and the
Eurasian Economic Union.”
(Tatev Danielian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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