Category: 2018

Acting Prime Minister of RA Nikol Pashinyan will be replaced by First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan during his vacation. Mirzoyan informed about this on his Facebook page.

“By the Prime Minister’s decision, I will replace him during his vacation. I will represent Armenia in the EAEU intergovernmental council,” he wrote.

To remind, Pashinyan went on vacation to fully participate in the pre-election campaign. The campaign started today, November 26, and will last for 12 days. On December 9, RA citizens will elect a new parliament.

236 million drams ($485,000) were collected during the fund-raising evening of the “My step” alliance, which took place on November 25.

This was reported by the alliance.

The pre-election program of the bloc was presented during the fund-raising evening held last night.

On November 26, RA National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan received Asaf Hajiyev, Secretary General of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly. Gagik Minasyan, the head of the RA NA delegation to the PA of the National Academy of Sciences, was present at the meeting.

The National Assembly reports that Ara Babloyan attached importance to the holding of the 52nd Plenary Session of the National Assembly of the National Assembly in Yerevan.

According to the head of the parliament, the organization is a unique platform for multilateral economic cooperation that can contribute to deepening and strengthening of regional ties.

The chairman of the National Assembly assured that the Armenian side has done everything possible to hold the plenary session and effective work is expected.

Asaf Hajiyev, thanking for the reception, expressed his belief that the sessions will be held in an atmosphere of interested discussions and mutual agreement.

The interlocutors discussed procedural issues related to the work of the session, referred to the current situation in the Black Sea region, presented their views on some issues.

A black and white reality was imposed on Armenia. On December 9, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his teammates are in for a big surprise. This was mentioned by Armen Ashotyan, RPA vice-president, in the RPA central office, presenting the pre-election program of the party.

Unlike other political forces, which started the day with meetings with citizens in different squares of Armenia, RPA started its campaign from the office through a press conference. He called to consider the party’s program together with the latest statement of the RPA Council. “Do not consider our program as a separate document. The last statement of the RPA Council is an integral part of the program,” he said.

Armen Ashotyan mentioned that the citizen of Armenia should be concerned about the security of Artsakh, the combat capability of the army, the strength of the borders, new price increases, the risk of losing his job and make his choice accordingly. “Why choose us, because we have history, knowledge, experience. We know and have accepted our mistakes, because we are ready to serve our homeland,” said Armen Ashotyan.

Ashotyan believes that a black and white reality was imposed on Armenia. However, he emphasized that Armenia is tricolor, not black and white. According to him, the statements that the RPA will get 0 votes are an insult to the citizens. “This is an insult to RA citizens, it is obvious that we will not get 0 votes, we will get thousands of votes,” he said.

Armen Ashotyan announced that a big surprise awaits Nikol Pashinyan and his team on the night of December 9.

RPA GM member Arpine Hovhannisyan, who represents the RPA program together with Ashotyan, announced that events have been taking place in the last 6-7 months and steps have been taken that should really give cause for concern.

“I don’t want to cause alarm, I don’t want to be hypocritical. The concern should be: what are we seeing in the last 6-7 months? We see Nikol Pashinyan and his team directly criticizing the Republican Party. Everything, if there is a good move by the Republican Party, is not talked about, as if it did not happen, it is a phenomenon created by itself. If it is a defect, it should be blackened, exaggerated and extreme. This is politics,” said Arpine Hovhannisyan.

According to him, the second phenomenon observed by the ruling power is “making false promises about the future”. “Promises: you will live well, I will raise salaries, I will raise pensions, of course, they can be divided into two parts. Promises that have been made and have not been fulfilled and will not be fulfilled: speedometers, red lines, cumulative pensions, etc. And the second group, which exclusively sound like good wishes. There is no way to fulfill those promises,” said Arpine Hovhannisyan.

He mentioned that the RPA expects a vote of confidence from the people in the upcoming elections.

“We feel responsible, because a person is responsible even if he does not try to prevent what is happening. When you are an observer, you are also responsible. We do not want to be in the status of an observer. We fully realized our political path, the gaps and achievements we had. We want to be allowed to raise the problems that we see by what we do or what we do not do,” said Arpine Hovhannisyan.

The RPA came out to the Maidan today, talked about the problems and made the posters like a tombstone black. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who heads the list of the “My Step” party, announced this in the Ani community, giving a speech to the residents.

He also referred to the statements of RPA members that the magic wand he said does not exist. “They say, ‘Where is your magic wand? Let me tell you where it is.’ The results of the elections in RA are not and will not be falsified. This is the magic wand. In RA, Baghramyan 26 and the doors of the National Assembly are open to the people. The credit history of 120,000 people in Armenia has been cleared. “Today, under the housing program for young professionals, in the regions of the Republic of Armenia, they can get a 5% mortgage loan without a down payment,” Nikol Pashinyan announced.

Addressing the RPA members, the Acting Prime Minister said that during their rule, the newly built apartments remained empty for years. “The bankers told me that there is a deficit of new buildings in the country. For the past ten years, we will close 2018 not with emigration, but with immigration. Today, the government and the people do not hate each other, but love each other.

Today the RPA came out to the Maidan, they made posters like tombstones in black. These elections should record the political death of the RPA looters and they, as those who looted the country, should be thrown into the dustbin of history.

Today they came to stand and say: if you are concerned about the army, vote for the RPA. This army has been looting, seed-stealing mice for 20 years, do you still have the moral right to talk about the army? You, who could not provide our soldier with T-shirt-pants… One thing should be done to the RPA members who think about the army: to catch them, to force them to eat for a week what is now inherited from them and is put on the table of our soldiers by inertia. What our soldier eats in the positions, you should spend a week, what a week, three days and tell you not to hide about the army, cut your teeth, because what you have done with the army is called national treason. No crook who steals a soldier’s bread will escape responsibility. Their place is the prison and they will end up in prison,” said Nikol Pashinyan.

Then he referred to the accusations that the law enforcement officials rushed the March 1 investigation. “They say that the investigation of the March 1 case failed. To…”, Nikol Pashinyan did not continue his speech here, and the gathered citizens shouted: “say it again, say it!”

Nikol Pashinyan continued his speech, but essentially said something else. “We catch them, they say: political persecutions, but we let them go, they say: wow, they made an agreement, they catch them again, they say: wow, political persecution… calm down, no one will escape responsibility, wherever they flee, even the last island in the world, we will grab them by the neck, bring them to Armenia.

The Acting Prime Minister also spoke about the settlement of the Artsakh issue. Referring to the forces that once formed a coalition with the RPA, but are now concerned about the Karabakh problem, he said: “Whoever talks about the settlement of the Karabakh problem, you should talk about kebabs, Mercedes spare parts, night club, billiard room. What do you have to do with pro-Armenianism? Aren’t you the one who left Karabakh out of the negotiation process for your non-governmental interests, and we will be consistent in bringing Karabakh back to the negotiation table?

There is not a millimeter of difference between the wishes of our people and our government regarding Karabakh,” said Nikol Pashinyan.

A criminal case has been initiated in the Special Investigation Service of the RA regarding the alleged crime of legalization (money laundering) of particularly large property obtained through criminal means (money laundering) by the former First Deputy Head of the State Protection Service of the National Security Service of the RA Vachagan Ghazaryan and his wife Ruzanna Beglaryan, as provided for in Article 190, Part 3, Clause 1 of the RA Criminal Code.

According to the press service of the SIS, according to the factual data obtained during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case being investigated by the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Armenia, spouses V. Ghazaryan and R. Beglaryan actually managed the profit obtained from the activities of the “Yans” complex. In the period from 2013 to May 2018, the latter organized tax evasion of more than 771 million AMD on a particularly large scale related to the activity of the said complex.

According to the above-mentioned factual data, V. Ghazaryan and R. Beglaryan, with the aim of hiding or distorting the criminal origin of these funds (property), acting with a prior agreement, converted (converted) particularly large amounts of funds obtained through criminal means, investing them as deposits in various banks operating in RA and received income in the form of accrued interest, and also purchased real estate with the said funds, which they rented out and received income.

An investigation is underway.

The former governor of Syunik Surik Khachatryan recently founded a company in the United Kingdom. “Hetk” informs about this.

2004-2013 and 2014-2016. A few days ago, on November 7, Khachatryan, the head of Syunik, signed a memorandum with his partner Abbey King Khawaja on establishing “Sunik Investments Limited” company. LLC was registered on November 8. With only 100 pounds of authorized capital, the company’s owners are 50-50 Khachatryan and Khavaja, who are also registered as directors. The secretary is Alan Peter Howard.

It is interesting that if Khachatryan’s citizenship is Armenian and Khawaja’s British (UK) citizenship is mentioned in the company’s documents, the country of residence in both cases is the United Kingdom.

Sunik Investments Limited is registered in Ferndown, Dorset, England (8 Lynwood Close, Ferndown, Dorset, England, BH22 9TD). Since the company is newly registered, not much is known about it yet.

Nevertheless, this is S. Khachatryan’s company is not the first in the United Kingdom. On October 1, 2016, after being dismissed from the post of Syunik governor for the second time, on December 1 of the same year, he became a member of “Kerkhoff Legal” LLP (limited liability partnership).

“Kerkhoff Legal” was founded in April 2014 by Germans Gerd Kerkhoff and Werner Reistel. It was registered in Hull, England. At the end of 2016, however, the founders gave way to Khachatryan and another German, Hans Ludwig. A few months later, in June 2017, Khachatryan and Ludwig’s partnership was dissolved.

Surik Khachatryan’s phone number is unavailable. according to the operator, “the given telephone number is temporarily not serviced”, which means that the service of the number is suspended at the request of the subscriber or due to debt. According to our information, the former official left Armenia.

“Sasna Tsrer” party started the pre-election campaign today with a statement, which was later referred to by the Acting Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. 

In particular, the leader of the pre-election list of the party, Varuzhan Avetisyan, expressed the opinion that the newly elected National Assembly will not have a long life, that the next two years will be a transitional parliament, after which there will be new extraordinary elections.

“We presented just such a plan, and in our opinion, after two years, the National Assembly should have completed its transition phase and we should go to extraordinary elections again. We plan that during that time a new Constitution should be adopted and new, extraordinary elections should be held on the basis of it,” Avetisyan said in particular.

This statement upset Pashinyan, who urged the newly created party to “not hesitate”.

“Have you really decided that you are given the right to decide the size of the parliament and sometimes even people’s lives? I tell you, don’t suddenly hesitate, this is not the weak and feeble government of Serzh Sargsyan for you,” said Pashinyan.

He also added that no one should dare to interpret their smiles and politeness as weakness.

VERELQ presents the most notable publications of the Armenian press.

“People” the daily writes. “On November 23, the National Security Service released a message informing about the discovery of a group engaged in the production of counterfeit banknotes. “Zhoghovurd” daily learned yesterday that one of the persons arrested in the case told that he had quite a lot of debts. Moreover, a year ago, the debtors kidnapped because of that debt, demanding to return the money. But he saved the kidnapped person from the debtors Serzh Sargsyan եղբորորդին՝ Narek Sargsyan, who is now wanted by law enforcement officers on charges of possession of illegal weapons and drugs. By the way, after arresting the above-mentioned person, the law enforcement officers released him with a signature. It is difficult to say what connection Narek Sargsyan might have with this group. But there are serious doubts that ordinary people were not behind the scammers.

“People” the daily writes. “The pre-election campaign for the extraordinary elections of the National Assembly started yesterday. Let’s note that these parliamentary elections have several important features. this will be the final step on the way to the velvet revolution, the end of the complete power change process in RA. After a break of almost two decades, the government was formed by the citizen of RA, being confident that there will be no election frauds in these elections, they will not be taken against their will, and their votes will not be stolen. Accordingly, the legitimacy of the government will be restored in RA. At the same time, let’s note that the results of the elections are more than predictable. that RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyanled by “My step” bloc will be the absolute winner, no one doubts it, even Pashinyan’s opponents announce it, only they explain it all by the excitement that followed the velvet revolution. In this context, other forces participating in the elections besides the “My Step” alliance do not talk about victory, coming to power, but declare that they will be the second force. That said, 10 out of 11 political forces are fighting for the second place in these elections, initially accepting the victory of the force led by Pashinyan, a circumstance that had never happened before. It remains for the new government to justify itself after all this society’s expectations, because victory with a great advantage is also the greatest responsibility, the greatest burden.

“Realist” the newspaper writes. “They say that Shirak has become a serious “talker” as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, already a “walker” from “Im step” side. From Serzh Sargsyan named “rat”. Felix Tsolakyan. The latter called one of the village heads of the three enlarged communities who were preparing to run as a rating candidate from the “Men” alliance in Shirak, and said: “Don’t worry, I will go to a better position after the elections (he means the position of the deputy head of the NSS), it will be good for you.” the latter agreed and refused to run. The thing is that if Tsolakyan, who escaped from the RPA, suffered at the expense of betraying his former team in the CP, won “dividends”, will not get many votes, he will become just an ordinary deputy, like during the RPA, which was the reason why he first betrayed the RPA, because he wanted a position very much.”

“Publication” the daily writes. “The “CP” elite, who walked all Saturday, were quite exhausted. Many people were surprised by the leader of the march and those who made appeals Nikol Pashinyanendurance, although it was rumored that his senses had deteriorated slightly at some point. “In any case, Nicole has a very big physical presence. even during the prime minister’s time, almost every morning at 6 o’clock, he practices at the “Grant Sport” club, the club is opened especially for him at that time. Of course, the security is closely watching, after practicing for an hour and a half, Pashinyan leaves for the government to work,” said our source. Actually, the work of not only the political forces, but also the security guys has become creative. they keep watch in the air, in the water and on land, they carry the rucksack. “It’s normal.” Formerly today’s police chief Valery Osipyan Pashinyan used to practice in the same fitness club. there they met before the rallies, established good relations, which became a platform for the latter to become police chief.

“Publication” the daily writes. “The federation yesterday Aram Manukyan near the statue, he started his campaign with confederation songs, balloons with the ARF logo, homemade wine and a bonfire. Only the masquerade was missing. That happened at the end, in the form of a procession with torches and a round dance. But in terms of the logo and slogan, “Loyal to the land and Armenia”, it seems that the creative mind of the ARF has experienced a retreat compared to the previous elections, especially in terms of the design of the pre-election poster, which was made by the designer Samvel Partamyan in almost all the previous elections, using Saryan’s canvases, beautiful photos. We asked Arsen Hambardzumyan, the representative of the supreme body of the ARF, who is the author of this tasteless poster. “It is a commercial secret. But we have always tried to present ourselves with new approaches, keeping in mind the imperative of the day, the demand of the day, always with new approaches. In any case, I think that you will have an opportunity to record, even during the short campaign, that we tried to organize with interesting solutions, with a new script,” he said. As for the logo and poster, then: “The headquarters of Dashnaktsutyun took an active part in both the development of the logo and the determination of the slogan.”

“Publication” the newspaper writes. “The revolutionary government has turned the Dvin hotel into a gathering place for its “Tusovkas”. On Sunday, in the only renovated hall of the half-built hotel, the fundraising of the “My step” alliance was held, during which 236 million drams were collected. Let’s remind that the famous gala dinner after Francophonie was also held in this hotel. Our source answered that the half-built “Dvin” hotel of businessman Artak Tovmasyan, RA honorary consul in Crimea, attracted the new and old authorities. “Nothing in particular, the hall is big and in the heart of the capital.” The members of the RPA, who declared themselves the “only opposition”, do not yield to the new government. Yesterday evening, the active members of the party together with the parliamentary candidates also gathered in “Dvin” to announce the start of the hall election campaign like in the old and good times.

“Fact” the daily writes. Acting Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia Gegham Gevorgyan In 2018, he presented to the ethics committee of high-ranking officials. declaration of assumption of office. We learn from the published document that he declared an apartment as well as a garage. Gegham Gevorgyan also declared a “Mercedes-Benz C 250 CGI” car. As of the day of assuming the position, his funds amounted to 8,500,000 AMD and 6,500 US dollars. 2018 From January 1 to the day of assuming official duties, the total amount of income received was AMD 12,917,219. He received AMD 11,206,841 from the mentioned income and AMD 35,000 from two different salaries. G. Gevorgyan also declared other incomes, which amounted to AMD 1,675,378. It should be noted that before being appointed to the position of minister, Gegham Gevorgyan held the position of the executive director of the “Office of Agricultural Programs Implementation” of the Ministry of Agriculture, and then the position of the executive director of the Agricultural Development Fund.

“People” the newspaper writes. “For a long time, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia has been buying potatoes not from farmers, but from intermediaries, as a result of which the RA state budget has paid a much higher price than the cost price. In this situation, the villagers also suffer, for example, residents of Gegharkunik region, some of whom are engaged in potato cultivation. “Zhoghovurd” newspaper learned from official documents that in September the Ministry of Defense bought potatoes for 80-86 drams and signed a contract with “Business Trend” company, whose founder is Nelly Mikayelyan. And here it is clear from the contract signed with “Eriz” company that the Ministry of Defense bought potatoes for 85-101 drams. In a conversation with the newspaper, the potato growers complained that the middlemen are buying the crop from them this year at an unprofitable price of 50-60 AMD, while it is supplied to the Ministry of Defense for 80-105 AMD.”

“Publication” the newspaper writes. “The televised debate of the leaders of 11 political forces participating in the parliamentary elections will take place on December 5, according to everyone, at 9 pm, it will last about 3 hours. The debate will be led by Armen Dulyan and Petros Ghazaryan. The political forces demanded journalists from other TV stations as well, but Hanrayin was adamant. The debate will proceed approximately in the following format: the leaders will make an opening speech, then all of them will be asked 3 questions, after which everyone will have the right to ask one question to any of the participants.