According to the decision of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, Rustam Badasyan has been appointed deputy chairman of the State Revenue Committee.
On May 17 Davit Ananyan was appointed chairman of the State Revenue Committee.
The new director of Armenia’s national security service, Arthur Vanetsyan, says that the service has launched active investigations since May 23 to uncover illicit enrichment cases through corruption schemes. The director said they will soon release details.
“Preliminary tactical data were confirmed. We have detainees, people who were questioned, we are working and soon the public will be notified,” he said.
He dismissed media rumors alleging that the NSS is preparing materials against Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan. He said that the NSS doesn’t prepare targeted materials against anyone.
Earlier on May 19, Vanetsyan told reporters that the NSS will uncover illegally enriched corrupt individuals in a brief period of time.
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian characterizes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as a “talented and diligent person”.
The president made the comment after an awarding ceremony when reporters asked him whether working with the Prime Minister is easy.
“In Nikol Pashinyan, I discovered for myself a talented, quick-thinking, willing, hard-working man, with whom I have very good professional relations. My impression is – we have bilateral respectful and constructive businesslike relations. I don’t see any problem whatsoever in working with him, on the contrary, I believe that we can work together very good,” Sarkissian said.
By the decree of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan Movses Hakobyan has been appointed chief military inspector.
By the decree of President Armen Sarkissian, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia Movses Hakobyan has been released from post, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the President’s Office.
Hakobyan served as the Commander of Artsakh’s Defense Army and Defense Minister from May 25, 2007 until June 15, 2015 when he was appointed as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. On October 3, 2016 he was promoted to the post of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia.
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan introduced on his Facebook page the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Major-General Artak Davtyan.
“I am glad to introduce the newly appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Major-General Artak Davtyan”, the PM wrote.
Artak Davtyan served as the Chief of the Operative Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.
Wednesday,
Pashinian Again Urges End To Continuing Protests
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks to reporters in Yerevan, 21 May
2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday again demanded an immediate end to
road closures and other protests going on in Armenia, saying that they smack of
“sabotage” against his newly formed government.
Pashinian already made a similar appeal on May 17 as groups of citizens blocked
streets and highways across the country and demonstrated outside government
buildings in Yerevan. Virtually all of those protests stopped as a result.
In particular, a major Yerevan street was unblocked by dozens of other people
demanding the release of jailed members of a radical opposition group that
launched a deadly attack on a police station in 2016. But they continued to
picket a court building as well as prosecutors’ headquarters in the Armenian
capital on a virtually daily basis.
Also, a group of residents of the southeastern Vayots Dzor province blocked for
the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday all roads leading to a massive gold
mine which is being built by a British-American company, Lydian International,
at the Amulsar deposit. They demanded a permanent halt to all construction and
mining operations there. Hundreds of other people working for Lydian and its
Armenian contractors were thus unable to go to work.
“Dear compatriots, I am again asking, urging and demanding that you stop all
civil disobedience actions without any exception and work with the government
for solving issues preoccupying you,” Pashinian wrote in a Facebook post.
“Taking civil disobedience actions against a government enjoying the people’s
trust means taking civil disobedience actions against yourself or carrying out
acts of sabotage against the government enjoying the people’s trust,” he said.
He warned that failure to heed his appeal would “receive an evaluation by the
people.”
Pashinian also aired a live video message on Facebook late on Tuesday in an
apparent response to the tense situation around the Amulsar mining site. He
announced that he will order government inspections of “all metal mines” in the
country to verify and, if necessary, ensure their compliance with environment
protection norms and their tax obligations.
Pashinian made clear at the same time that his government favors an “explicitly
balanced approach” to the domestic mining sector which generates a considerable
part of Armenia’s export revenue. “We cannot say that we are going to shut down
the Armenian mining industry,” he stressed.
“All our actions must be professional and strictly comply with the law so that
there are no negative consequences for Armenia in international bodies and also
in relation to this positive background for the investment climate,” stressed
the premier.
Armenia - The U.S.-based company Lydian International builds a gold mine at the
Amulsar deposit, 9Dec2017. (Photo by Lydian Armenia)
Lydian started building its gold mining and smelting facilities at Amulsar
2016. It has since hired more than 1,000 Armenian workers for the construction
which it says will cost $370 million in investments. Work on the mine is due to
be completed before the end of this year. Armenia’s gold exports should
increase sharply as a result.
Armenian environment protection groups are opposed to the Amulsar project.
Lydian maintains that it will use advanced technology and prevent any damage to
the local ecosystem.
The mining project is strongly supported by the U.S. and British governments.
The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, argued last year year that it
has been deemed “fully compliant” with environment protection standards set by
the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Tsarukian Said To Aim For Election Victory
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Businessman Gagik Tsarukian speaks at an election campaign rally in
Yerevan, 28Mar2017.
Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) insists on the conduct of
fresh parliamentary elections and believes it can win them, a senior BHK figure
said on Wednesday.
The BHK, which is part of the broader Tsarukian Bloc, backed the recent popular
uprising that led to the resignation of the country’s longtime leader, Serzh
Sarkisian. It also helped the protest leader, Nikol Pashinian, become prime
minister and joined him in calling for snap elections.
“We all need to realize that there has emerged an unconventional political
situation in the country which can only have one legal solution: pre-term
parliamentary elections,” the BHK’s Naira Zohrabian told reporters. “Prosperous
Armenia is ready to participate in them as early as tomorrow. But we also
realize that we need to solve a number of legal issues before the elections.”
Zohrabian cited the need to modify the existing electoral system and enact more
safeguards against vote rigging. Pashinian and his political team are also
seeking such changes.
The 42-year-old premier has suggested that the general elections will likely be
held before the end of this year. Zohrabian described this time frame as
“realistic.”
Armenia - Opposition leaders Gagik Tsarukian (L) and Nikol Pashinian speak to
reporters after a meeting in Yerevan, 2 May 2018.
Senior representatives Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), which
still holds a majority of seats in the current parliament, have spoken out
against the idea of fresh elections. The HHK is in a position to block their
conduct.
Zohrabian made clear that should such elections be the BHK will “aspire” to
winning control over the next parliament.She pointed to her party’s “political
clout” and “great public trust in our leader.”
Tsarukian’s political force finished second in Armenia’s last three
parliamentary elections held in 2017, 2012 and 2007.
Asked whether Tsarukian is now more popular than Pashinian, Zohrabian said:
“Gagik Tsarukian is one of Armenia’s most popular politicians and I will be
greatly surprised if anyone calls his approval rating into question.”
Tsarukian, who is one the country’s richest men, received five ministerial
posts in Pashinian’s cabinet formed earlier this month.
Armenian PM Rejects ‘Threats’ From Jailed Oppositionists
• Artak Hambardzumian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and members of his government attend a
parliament session in Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian rejected on Wednesday what he called “threats of
violence” made by the leaders of a fringe opposition group imprisoned by the
former Armenian authorities.
He reiterated that he will not try to pressurize courts into releasing Zhirayr
Sefilian, Varuzhan Avetisian and other jailed members of the Founding
Parliament movement that seized a police station in Yerevan in 2016.
Sefilian and Avetisian, who lead Founding Parliament, criticized Pashinian’s
reluctance to exert such pressure on Tuesday. In an open a letter to the
recently elected premier, they said the continued imprisonment of these and
other “political prisoners” could have “severe consequences” for Armenia.
“As you know the process of the release of political prisoners has begun and
will continue,” Pashinian said, commenting on the letter. “But I want to make
one thing clear: one must not speak to the people with threats of violence and
hints at threats of violence.”
“I hope we all understand that if there has been a change of political
situation that change of political situation must also occur in everybody’s
behavior,” he told reporters.
Pashinian also dismissed Sefilian’s and Avetisian’s claims that he seems to
have “washed his hands” of radical opposition activists and supporters jailed
during former President Serzh Sarkisian’s rule.
“We have to verify what it means to wash one’s hands,” he said. “If it’s about
my statements that I’m not going to issue instructions to judges, then I stand
by that position because starting a process of instructing judges for any
purpose means starting a process of ‘SerzhSarkisianization.’ I won’t put myself
into such a process because even if we issue an order to a court just once that
court will never operate without our orders.”
“We attach great importance to the establishment of an independent judicial
system in the Republic of Armenia and see two practical tasks in that regard,”
Pashinian went on. “First, to make sure that no illegal orders are issued to
courts from government offices or anywhere else. And second, to make sure that
no judge hands down a ruling in return for a bribe.”
Pashinian pledged to seek the release of all “political prisoners” immediately
after he swept to power in a democratic revolution earlier this month. But he
made clear that he will use solely legal mechanisms for that purpose.
Sefilian was arrested in June 2016 and subsequently sentenced to 10.5 years in
prison for plotting an armed revolt against the government, a charge he
strongly denies.
Sefilian’s arrest came less than a month before three dozen Founding Parliament
members led by Avetisian seized a police base in Yerevan’s Erebuni district to
demand his release and Sarkisian’s resignation. The armed group calling itself
Sasna Tsrer laid down its weapons after a two-week standoff with security
forces, which left three police officers dead.
Pashinian has publicly listed Sefilian, but not Avetisian and other jailed
gunmen, among the individuals who he believes were jailed for political
reasons. He said last week that the Sasna Tsrer case is “a bit different”
because of the three casualties. He said it should be resolved as a result of
public “discussions” that must involve relatives of the three slain policemen.
Man Linked To Armenian MP Held For Attacking Protesters
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - Parliament deputy Mihran Poghosian at a session of the National
Assembly in Yerevan, 19 May 2017.
A man working for a controversial Armenian parliamentarian affiliated with the
former ruling Republican Party (HHK) has been arrested on suspicion of
assaulting anti-government protesters in Yerevan last month.
The incident occurred in the city’s northern Kanaker-Zeytun district on April
21, two days before HHK leader Serzh Sarkisian resigned as prime minister amid
massive street protests against his decade-long rule. A group of men reportedly
beat up and smashed the cars of people taking part in the protests led by Nikol
Pashinian.
The Armenian police detained one of the presumed attackers, Andranik Isoyan, on
Tuesday. He turned out to be an assistant to Mihran Poghosian, a wealthy HHK
lawmaker who has long held sway in Kanaker-Zeytun.
Poghosian on Wednesday expressed hope that the arrest is the result of a
“misunderstanding” and that Isoyan will be cleared of any wrongdoing. “I regret
the fact that my assistant has found himself among a number of individuals who
have been arrested or summoned by relevant bodies lately,” he said.
A senior member of Pashinian’s Yelk alliance, Zaruhi Batoyan, claimed earlier
that the attackers arrived at the scene of the incident in cars belonging to
Poghosian and his associates. Batoyan said she suspects that the
parliamentarian was in one of those cars during the assault.
Poghosian categorically denied that. He also insisted that he did not order
Isoyan or anybody else to attack the protesters.
Armenia - Mihran Poghosian, head of the Service for the Mandatory Execution of
Judicial Acts (SMEJA), at a news conference in Yerevan, 25Jan2013.
Poghosian, who will turn 42 next week, ran an Armenian state body enforcing
court rulings until getting embroiled in a corruption scandal two years ago.
Citing leaked documents known as the Panama Papers, the Hetq.am investigative
publication reported that he controls three shadowy companies registered in
Panama.
After his initial denials of the report, Poghosian announced his resignation
later in April 2016. Armenia’s Special Investigation Service (SIS) launched a
criminal investigation at the time.
The SIS said in January 2017 that it will not press criminal charges against
Poghosian because it has found no evidence of his involvement in “illegal
entrepreneurial activity.” Shortly afterwards, the ruling HHK nominated him as
a candidate for parliamentary elections held in April 2017.
Independent media outlets have for years accused Poghosian of having extensive
business interests thanks to his government position and connections. In
particular, he is widely regarded as the main owner of a company that enjoyed a
de facto monopoly on banana imports to Armenia until recently.
The former official has also faced opposition allegations that a charity
controlled by him bought votes for the HHK and Serzh Sarkisian in presidential
and parliamentary elections. He has always denied them.
Press Review
“The team that came to power in Armenia as a result of the velvet resolution is
slowly but steadily reinforcing its positions,” writes “Haykakan Zhamanak.” “As
was expected, the team is grappling with numerous and different issues. The
most sensitive of those issues is to do with relations with the business
community. Over the decades big business in Armenia grew intertwined with
government and became an integral part of state governance. The state was
guided by the interests of big business, while big business served as the main
resource for the ruling regime’s reproduction.”
“Now everything has changed and an interesting situation has emerged,”
continues the paper edited by Nikol Pashinian’s wife, Anna Hakobian. It says
that wealthy entrepreneurs are no longer “sponsored” by the government and are
“rapidly losing their privileges and getting quite dexterous competitors just
as rapidly.”
“Zhoghovurd” reports that Serzh Sarkisian visits the Yerevan headquarters of
his Republican Party (HHK) and meets its senior members on a practically daily
basis these days. “At those meetings, he initiates discussions on various
topics, hears views and himself expresses them but does not share his actions
and plans with anyone,” the paper says. It suggests that the former president
and prime minister is “looking for ways of returning to power.”
Speaking to “Hayots Ashkhar,” Samvel Nikoyan, an HHK parliamentarian,
challenges Pashinian to explain what he means by a “government of national
accord.” “This is a typical coalition government,” Nikoyan says of Pashinian’s
cabinet.
“Aravot” says that many university rectors, school principals, teachers and
academics in Armenia indeed joined the HHK for various, less than altruistic
reasons. The paper says that the new government must not waste time on getting
them to leave the former ruling party. “The principals and rectors will
themselves quickly assess the situation and leave the former ruling party
because membership in the HHK will only harm them now,” it says.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org
By Oksana Musaelyan
After the law on citizenship of the Republic of
Armenia was adopted in 1995, the process of “voluntary” naturalization
of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan began.
They were granted citizenship, which gave them the
right to be elected to public office and to vote, as well as the right
to travel. Yet, 25 years later, according to the State Migration Service
of Armenia, about 20,000 refugees from Azerbaijan still retain refugee
status.
About 83,000 naturalized citizens are convinced that
naturalization was forced upon them. They consider themselves victims of
the trap set by the country’s migration policy. They were hopeful that
acquiring citizenship would radically change their social and economic
situation. However, this was not the case. Both naturalized citizens and
those who have retained refugee status remain the poorest, most
marginalized and vulnerable segments of the population. For them, many
issues, including housing, education and employment, remain unresolved.
Naturalized citizens stand united in the belief that
the Armenian government deceived them. The government promised that they
would receive housing after acquiring citizenship. Also, the refugee
passport issued by Armenia limited the refugees’ rights to travel
outside Armenia. Naturalized citizens are convinced that they lost the
protection of the international community when they gave up their
refugee status. They also believe that the Armenian authorities are
enacting a silent policy of indifference. Naturalized citizens believe
that the authorities are waiting for them to either migrate or simply
pass away—the mortality rate is high among former refugees.
Nevertheless, Gagik Yeganyan, who heads the migration service, believes that such an excuse is a delusion.
“Many believe that refugee status gives them a
greater advantage than an Armenian passport because in the 1990s Armenia
received a large amount of humanitarian aid that was distributed
amongst vulnerable social groups, and refugees comprise some of these
groups. But after 2000, humanitarian aid ended. And yet, people still
have this mindset,” Yeganyan said.
About 700 refugee families received their own houses
under the housing security program, which operated from 2005 to 2008.
However, since 2009 no funding for housing has been allocated.
Nevertheless, for more than 1,000 refugee families, the housing problem
continues to be the most acute. These refugee families from Azerbaijan,
who were displaced due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict nearly 30 years
ago, continue to live in unfit housing conditions. They live in derelict
hotels, boarding schools, and hostels, often without their own
bathrooms. Commonly, four people live in a single11square-meterroom,
which serves as both a kitchen and bedroom. They are very often
subjected to the arbitrariness of the managers and new owners of these
buildings. They experience random water and power outages. Managers
sometimes guard building entrances to keep out “unwanted” visitors,
thereby creating a prison-like atmosphere.
Yeganyan said that the Armenian authorities would be
happy to help those with outstanding housing issues, but such “good
intentions” run contrary to international practice.
“There isn’t a single international document that
says that the country hosting refugees is obliged to provide them with
housing,” Yeganyan said.
The fact that they are not just refugees, but the
Armenians whose fate have been decided instead of them, when they were
forcibly dislocated as a result of the political issue raised in Armenia
and in Karabakh, proved to be absolutely not an important circumstance
in terms of the rule of the international law, which, as it turned out,
the Armenian authorities strictly comply.
In May 2011, the Armenian government held an
international forum with representatives of the diplomatic missions in
Armenia to come up with a way to solve the refugee housing problem. The
former UN High Commissioner for Refugees and now UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres participated. The forum aimed to encourage participants
to donate an $45 million in funding to solve the refugee housing issue.
In his opening remarks at the forum, former Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan noted that the refugee housing problem was the most important
among the social issues facing the country. Yet, despite that statement,
the funds were not allocated to the budget. Among the forum
participants, the embassy of Brazil was the sole contributor to the
fund, donating $50,000. The other forum participants ignored the appeal,
arguing that refugees are de jure citizens of the Republic of Armenia,
which means that the issues former refugees face are Armenia’s problem
to deal with.
During his meeting with Guterres in 2011, former
president Serzh Sargsyan finally stated the authorities’ position on the
problems facing refugees by saying that “Yerevan has never politicized
the issue of refugees.” One can only wonder why Sargsyan so belittled
the consequences of the forced resettlement of the Armenian population.
In 2011, refugee issues were finally excluded from the agenda of
Armenia’s foreign and domestic policy.
In 2007, during a press conference held on the
side-lines of the Ministerial Council of the OSCE conference in Madrid,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammedyarov said, “Do not believe
what you are told in Armenia … Armenians left Azerbaijan calmly,
selling all their property.”
Yerevan’s indifferent attitude toward the plight of
Armenian refugees is no different from the official Baku line on their
crimes of violent persecution and property committed against their own
ethnically Armenian citizens. Today, twice a year, the victims of the
Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku pogroms are commemorated, but the issues
their survivors face in Armenia are ignored. Yerevan’s silence suggests a
cynical, illiterate and antihuman position towards Armenian refugees,
who are treated as second-class citizens. Their rights remain
unprotected under Armenian law.
Today, Armenian refugees find themselves on the
periphery of human existence. They are displaced Armenians whose fate
was decided for them, living unjustly in their own hell.
Photo: Jan Zychlinski
Thursday,
‘Many People’ Questioned In Armenian Corruption Probe
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - Artur Vanetsian, the new head of the National Security Service,
speaks to RFE/RL before attending a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, ..
The new head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsian,
said on Thursday that it has already questioned many people as part of an
unprecedented crackdown on corruption promised by him.
Vanetsian said over the weekend that unnamed individuals who have long
“enriched themselves through large-scale corruption schemes” will be exposed
and held accountable soon. The NSS will strive to ensure that they compensate
the state for public funds embezzled by them, he said.
Vanetsian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Thursday that these
anti-graft measures have already begun and that “there will be revelations in
the coming days.”
“I can tell you that numerous individuals have been summoned [for questioning,]
there are detained individuals, efforts are underway, and the public will be
informed about that in the coming days,” he said. “This is a complex, difficult
and large-scale effort which is in full swing. We need to make sure that nobody
has any questions in connection with it.”
“That is why we must do everything in a very professional way and for that we
need a little time,” he added.
Vanetsian also said that the interrogated persons gave “explanations” that
confirmed “our preliminary operational information.” He refused to clarify
whether there are any current or former high-ranking officials among them.
The NSS chief was also asked to comment on rumors that his powerful security
agency is poised to implicate Yerevan’s embattled Mayor Taron Markarian in
corrupt practices. “We don’t deliberately prepare [incriminating] materials
against any officials,” he said. “We do our job. If we find out facts
testifying to illegal activities of one or another person we perform our duties
defined by the law.”
Markarian, who is affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party, is facing
growing pressure to resign from Armenia’s new government headed by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Vanetsian, 38, is a career NSS officer who was named to run the security
service two days after the Armenian parliament voted to choose Pashinian as
prime minister on May 8. Pashinian has pledged, among other things, to “root
out” endemic corruption in the country.
Russian, Armenian Defense Chiefs Discuss Closer Ties
RUSSIA -- Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu salutes as he takes part in
the Victory Day parade, marking the 73rd anniversary of the victory over Nazi
Germany in World War Two, at Red Square in Moscow, Russia May 9, 2018.
Armenia’s new Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and his Russian counterpart Sergey
Shoygu have reportedly agreed to maintain and even deepen the already close
military ties between their nations.
The two men met in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Wednesday on the sidelines of
a meeting of the defense ministers of six former Soviet republics making up the
Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
The Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisian, said they
stressed their governments’ “readiness to ensure the continuity of existing
agreements and programs and to expand them in all areas of bilateral [military]
cooperation.”
A separate statement by the ministry likewise said Shoygu and Tonoyan agreed to
deepen “the Russian-Armenian strategic allied relationship.” It said they also
discussed regional security and “ways of jointly countering existing threats.”
Armenia - Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan at a meeting with senior Russian
officials in Yerevan, 16 May 2018.
Tonoyan met with Russia’s charge d’affaires and military attaché in Yerevan on
May 16 just a few days after being appointed as defense minister by Armenia’s
new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. He reportedly told them that
Russian-Armenian military ties “will continue to be expanded.”
Pashinian said on Wednesday that “military-technical cooperation” was among the
issues on the agenda of his May 14 talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin
held in Sochi. He did not elaborate.
Russia has long been the principal supplier of weapons and other military
equipment to the Armenian army. Membership in the CSTO entitles the South
Caucasus state to receiving them at discounted prices or even for free.
Last October, Moscow agreed to provide the Armenian government with a fresh
$100 million loan that will be spent on buying more Russian weapons at internal
Russian prices set well below market-based levels. It already lent Yerevan $200
million for the same purpose in 2015.
Armenia also hosts a Russian military base that has been reinforced with
modernized warplanes, combat helicopters and new artillery systems in recent
years. Successive Armenian governments have regarded the Russian troops as a
crucial deterrent against neighboring Turkey, which fully supports Azerbaijan
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
New Tax Chief Vows Sizable Rise In State Revenue
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - The headquarters of the State Revenue Committee in Yerevan.
The newly appointed head of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) pledged on
Thursday to ensure this year a “substantial” increase in taxes and customs
duties collected by the government agency.
“I can tell you that [tax] revenues will be substantially higher than planned,”
Davit Ananian told reporters after attending a weekly cabinet meeting in
Yerevan. He did not give any numbers.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian demanded a more radical improvement of tax
administration in Armenia when he presented Ananian to senior SRC officials
last week. He said tax reforms carried out by the previous SRC chief, Vartan
Harutiunian, are “not sufficient.”
Armenian tax revenue rose by more than 7 percent last year. The improvement was
particularly visible in the national customs service, which has long been
regarded as one of the country’s most corrupt government agencies. Import
duties collected by the SRC soared by over 23 percent in 2017.
Ananian, who served as a deputy finance minister before taking over the SRC,
acknowledged that his predecessor tackled the informal sector of the domestic
economy “quite effectively.” But he said the fight against tax fraud will be
tougher and “even more effective” during his tenure.
Ananian did not deny media reports that Pashinian met with wealthy
businesspeople earlier this week. “I don’t know what was discussed but I
received relevant instructions as a result of the discussion,” he said. “The
instructions were very clear and simple: the SRC must operate within the
framework of the law and there must be no privileged companies.”
Pashinian pledged to separate business from politics and de-monopolize
lucrative sectors of the Armenian economy, notable commodity imports, when he
took office on May 8.
UK's Johnson Discusses Russia With ‘Armenian PM’
UK -- British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attends the BBC's Marr Show in
London, April 15, 2018.
(Reuters) - Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talked international
relations and rude poetry with a hoax caller who pretended to be the Armenian
prime minister in a new gaffe by one of Britain’s most prominent politicians.
In the 18-minute call, Johnson discussed relations with Russia, the Iran
nuclear deal and the Syrian war, according to audio of the call uploaded on
YouTube and shared on the Twitter pages of Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus.
Britain’s foreign office confirmed that Johnson had been hoaxed and said the
perpetrator was “childish”, while a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May
said an investigation was under way “to make sure this doesn’t happen again”.
“This shouldn’t have happened,” the spokeswoman said.
The caller, impersonating Armenia’s new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, said he
was going to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and asked Johnson’s advice
for dealing with him.
“I hope he will not poison me with Novichok,” the prankster joked, referring to
a nerve agent used in the March attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his
daughter, for which Britain has blamed Russia. Johnson can be heard chuckling
on the other end of the line.
Later in the call, Johnson said he would like to come to Armenia to find out
more about “Armenia’s Novichok experiences”, and they also talk about sanctions
against Russia and high-profile individuals.
“You throw a stone in Kensington and you’ll hit an oligarch,” Johnson said, in
reference to the central London district favored by Russian tycoons. “Some of
them are close to Putin and some of them aren’t.”
Vovan and Lexus are known in Russia for targeting celebrities and politicians
with their audacious stunts, and in 2015 they prank-called British singer Elton
John.
Johnson too is no stranger to controversy. In the run-up to Britain’s 2016
referendum on EU membership, the prominent Brexiteer compared the goals of the
European Union to those of Adolf Hitler and Napoleon, causing consternation in
European capitals. Also in 2016, Johnson wrote a controversial poem about
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, involving wild oats and a goat, which the
prankster complimented him on.
But despite his penchant for colorful rhetoric, Johnson stuck closely to
official British policy throughout the call and eventually stopped replying
altogether.
“The Foreign Secretary realized it was a hoax and ended the call. We checked it
out and knew immediately it was a prank call,” the Foreign Office said in a
statement. “These childish actions show the lack of seriousness of the caller
and those behind him.”
The perpetrators of the stunt admitted they had underestimated Johnson. “We
were surprised that he turned out to be a smart diplomat, an intellectual,”
Lexus was quoted as saying in Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. “This is
probably the first time we have spoken with someone who is not an idiot.”
Pashinian Replaces Armenian Army Chief
Armenia - Colonel-General Movses Hakobian, chief of the Armenian army's General
Staff, visits an army recruitment center in Yerevan, 8 January 2018.
Armenia’s top army general, Movses Hakobian, was dismissed on Thursday in a
move initiated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
A relevant decree signed by President Armen Sarkissian was requested by
Pashinian in accordance with the Armenian constitution.
The premier announced Hakobian’s impending sacking at the start of a weekly
cabinet meeting held earlier in the day. He attributed the move to Hakobian’s
“transfer to another position.”
“I want to say that the decision was made in an atmosphere of mutual consent,”
Pashinian said, adding that the new chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff
will be appointed “by the end of the day.”
Hakobian was replaced by Major-General Artak Davtian later in the evening.
Davtian, 47, has been the commander of the Armenian army’s Fifth Corps since
September 2017. He had previously held senior positions in the General Staff.
Pashinian, meanwhile, announced his decision to appoint Hakobian as Armenia’s
chief military inspector.
Hakobian was named as army chief in October 2016 by then President Serzh
Sarkisian. He had worked as deputy chief of the General Staff since 2015.
The 53-year-old colonel-general is a native of Nagorno-Karabakh and a former
Soviet army officer who served in Afghanistan from 1987-1988. He played a
prominent role in the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan.
Hakobian was the commander of Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army from 2007-2015.
Press Review
“Haykakan Zhamanak” is dissatisfied with criminal investigations into last
month’s violent attacks on anti-government protesters in Yerevan which were
reportedly carried out by government loyalists. The paper argues that nobody
has been formally charged in connection with those incidents yet. It notes,
though, that law-enforcement authorities moved on Wednesday to arrest the
brother of the notorious top bodyguard of Vladimir Gasparian, the former chief
of the Armenian police. It says that a court in Yerevan was in no rush to
sanction the arrest.
“Aravot” rules out the possibility of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s and
his HHK party’s returning to power. “The former authorities have no avenue of
regaining power,” editorializes the paper. It also says that the new government
might exploit popular fears of an HHK “revanche” to deflect possible criticism
of its policies.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that “huge amounts” of public money have been spent on the
purchase of two cars for a recently established Armenian state body, the
Supreme Judicial Council. They will cost taxpayers about $80,000. The paper
blames Gagik Harutiunian, the former Constitutional Court chairman heading the
council, for what it sees as extravagant spending.
“Zhamanak” reacts to reports that Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, will again
debate a draft resolution recognizing the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman
Empire. The paper cautions that this does not mean the Knesset will definitely
pass the resolution this time around. “After all, it’s not the first time that
the Armenian genocide reaches the political agenda of Israel or other countries
in the world when they have problems with Turkey,” it says. “On the one hand,
it is offensive to see others use our pain for solving their grievances against
Turkey. On the other hand, we cannot fail to come to terms with that reality.
Otherwise, we would have to declare that we renounce efforts at international
recognition of the genocide and call on other countries to avoid playing the
Armenian card.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org
Interfax - Russia & CIS Diplomatic Panorama Wednesday 6:43 PM MSK Lavrov discusses allied interaction with new Armenian foreign minister MOSCOW. May 23 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan discussed preparations for the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government in Dushanbe on June 1 and the meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Council of Foreign Ministers in Almaty on June 11, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Lavrov and Mnatsakanyan also discussed activities of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) institutions, the schedule of bilateral events, and planned contacts on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process on the level of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the ministry said. They also discussed allied interaction following Russian President Vladimir Putin's conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Sochi on May 14, it said. Lavrov "once again, now in his personal capacity, congratulated his Armenian counterpart on his appointment to this high-ranking government position." The conversation was held at Armenia's initiative. The Armenian Foreign Ministry's press service said Mnatsakanyan and Lavrov reaffirmed their interest in continuing to expand and deepen relations. Mnatsakanyan also accepted Lavrov's invitation to visit Moscow. "For a more detailed discussion of the Armenian-Russian agenda and promotion of bilateral relations, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan accepted Sergei Lavrov's invitation to visit Moscow in the near future," the press service said. Mnatsakanyan praised Russia's, France's, and the United States' mediating efforts in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The Armenian foreign minister reaffirmed Yerevan's commitment to an exclusively peaceful resolution of the problem within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. In his words, for the process to be successful, a peace-oriented atmosphere is needed," the press service said.