Category: 2019

Immediately after the resignation of Serzh Sargsyan and the victory of the “Velvet Revolution” in RA, the constant struggle of the old against the new regime is intensifying from time to time. All permissible and impermissible tricks of the struggle are put into practice with the widest use of social networks and mass media. Everything is done so that the positive processes taking place in the country are completely belittled and “fake” news, “research”, press conferences and interviews are published, in which any actions of the authorities, regardless of their adequacy, are evaluated as flagrant mistakes, failures, which, allegedly, in the nearest future will lead to the collapse of the country. Thus, all the initiatives, ideas, government decisions regarding the country’s development, strategic directions for the establishment of industry and science with the use of industry and high technologies, receive groundless criticism. According to some, the foreign political activity in general does not withstand any criticism, and the country is on the verge of destruction.

Instead of doing things so that our enemies burst with envy after seeing all the initiatives aimed at state building and their implementation, a whole army of people is operating in Armenia, constantly pouring water into the enemy’s mill. This army is using many means of struggle for the lost power, hoping to bring back the old regime and, accordingly, revive the food bowl of the corrupt state. At the same time, environmental issues, the unsettledness of the Artsakh problem, the thesis of allegedly exerting pressure on judges, “garbage” terrorism, “unfriendly” relations with Russia are put into action. relations, “disruptive” actions of non-governmental organizations financed by the “Soros” foundation and a number of other problems.

It should not be forgotten that immediately after Pashinyan’s government came to power, a total war on corruption was declared in Armenia. It seems that it is an easy task: the head of the state does not take bribes, he does not need to carry suitcases with money, the pyramid of corruption has been destroyed, and corrupt officials are in prison. But it’s actually not that easy. The economic system of the state’s life activity has been built and crystallized on the corruption component of management for a quarter of a century. The basis of everything was corruption, and within 1-2 months, even a year, it is technically impossible to transition to a fundamentally new management system. Incredible effort were required to make that transition. It should not be forgotten that the international organizations in Europe and Russia had close ties with the corrupt leadership of Armenia. Thus, the Republican Party of Armenia, whose core was completely corrupt, was included and is still included in the most influential and largest People’s Party in Europe. It is quite natural that everyone in the international arena has started to be wary of Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of Armenia.

Open sabotage and terrorism to fight against the new government can be seen even from the fact that “Sanitech” company has deliberately not fulfilled its duties to clean the city from garbage for more than a year and, in fact, is sabotaging the works of the municipality, because the financing conditions have become open, and the corrupt scheme of remuneration for work has been broken, through which billions of drams flowed to the management of the municipality and “Sanitech”. the pocket. These numbers are published and there is no point in quoting them. Now that army of the unwilling is using people to make accusations against the authorities for violating rights, putting pressure on judges, polluting the environment, etc. However, they “forget” that during their administration, all judges were ruled from one address, law enforcement agencies – the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice – all carried out the will of the oligarchic ruling elite. Everyone had to put money in Serzh Sargsyan’s pocket. For some reason, those same people did not talk about vicious events at that time, and prison awaited the most active fighters of justice. Millions of dollars to fight against corruption, violation of human rights, were provided to Armenia by international organizations for the holding of fair elections and the adoption of laws in accordance with European standards, smoothly flowed into the pockets of the oligarchs who usurped the power. Here they said: “They see the thorn in someone else’s eye, but they don’t see the log in their own eye.”

Unfortunately, not everyone understands how difficult it is to move the economy to the path of normal progress, to revive the industry, to outline the strategic directions of the country’s development, while at the same time strengthening the army, where a corrupt system of government was also established, and at the same time to make you be treated with respect and without caution at the international level. It is difficult, because in the middle and lower levels of the country’s management, there are many left over from the previous government, in whose consciousness it is practically impossible to eradicate the corrupt management methods.

A special role is given here to the constructive opposition, whose goal is the same as that of the authorities: to bring the country to prosperity. Such criticism is always useful, and it is heard everywhere. Far worse is the lack of it. The Prime Minister, the Government and the National Assembly should pay special attention to the proposals of constructive opposition forces in the field of state building and without any hint of skepticism, carefully discuss them and, if necessary, implement them. Moreover, it makes sense to invite opposition politicians and specialists to some leadership positions, who were during the previous governments did not tarnish their name. However, when there are those in the country who are ready to sell the motherland for 30 silvers for personal selfish and ambitious aspirations, who are guided by the principle of “the worse, the better”, they should be identified in time and punished with all the severity of the law. The mandate was given by the Armenian people.

Karapet Kalenchyan

On October 1, the session of the Eurasian Supreme Economic Council began in Yerevan. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, chairing the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), welcomed the participants, and the session continued behind closed doors. Heads of EAEU member states – Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Kasim Chomart-Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Zheenebekov and Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan. Moldovan President Igor Dodon, head of the observer state, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, as heads of invited countries, also attended the enlarged session.

… The Eurasian Economic Union summit is always a significant event for the EAEU member states. It is a good opportunity to summarize the results of work done on a number of key benchmarks, analyze new strategic challenges, consider and suggest more effective, acceptable forms of cooperation for all member states. During the 5 years of its establishment, EAEU, despite being one of the most widely criticized post-Soviet structures, has done considerable work to promote balanced development of the economies of the Member States, to combine existing resources, and to increase product competitiveness. Prior to the Yerevan Summit in an interview with “EAEU Economics Bulletin ” («Вестник Economics EAEU”) magazine, the Armenian Prime Minister emphasized the importance of holding economic forums within the EAEU with the wide participation of foreign representatives, international organizations, business environment, scientific and non-governmental organizations. In this regard, the October 1-2 event in Yerevan was the first in terms of both the number of participants and the saturation of the agenda. “Such forums will promote the establishment of an active trade-economic and institutional dialogue, both within the EAEU and with external partners and unions, which is one of the important factors for the development of the transit potential of the Eurasian continent,” Nikol Pashinyan said in his interview. And the other important, if not sensitive, locally important topic is the adoption of a decision on harmonization of member states’ legislation in the field of gas supply and transportation, as a result of which the price of gas supplied to Armenia may rise. In short, it seems that EAEU is still in search of stabilizing the economic component.

Coming to the political component, it should be noted that long before the summit the fake agenda of the Russian president’s participation or non-participation had become the subject of public discussion. Some circles were artificially generating rumors that Nikol Pashinyan’s and Vladimir Putin’s relations were not smooth, so he would not visit Yerevan. Whereas, the facts prove the opposite. Moreover, Russian media quoted Putin as saying that he was looking forward to arriving in Armenia. “I want to get to Armenia soon, to see Pashinyan and say that Armenian-Russian relations will now enter a new, more prosperous phase,” the Russian President noted. And there is nothing to be surprised about: Armenia with its geographical advantage is as important to Russia as Russia to Armenia. And, besides, Putin understands very well that on behalf of Pashinyan, he is dealing with a leader enjoying the confidence of the absolute majority of the Armenian people.  Soon there was another “balloon” circulated by the same circles that bursted out, according to which Putin will not have a separate meeting with Nikol Pashinyan besides the general meeting. In fact, there were not one, but two such meetings.

That’s how it goes. Well, the rest the time will show.

Last week, it was reported on the Internet that Yerevan City Court of First Instance Judge Anna Danibekyan had been subjected to harassment and bullying by unknown persons who had presented themselves as journalists. In the footage, a young man, while filming a judge, made disrespectful remarks to her, specifically asking, “Do you belong to the judges who are whining under the walls?” A criminal case has been launched in connection with the case, in which two persons, Narek Mutafyan and Sargis Ohanjanyan were charged under Article 332 1.1 of the Criminal Code for “interfering in any way with the activity of the court in order to impede the administration of justice.” As a precautionary measure, they have filed a petition to the court for their detention. The case is under the the RA Investigation Committee.

… The incident has received a wide response from the public, including lawyers, advocates, public-political figures, government officials, ordinary citizens and others. Some have condemned what has happened, while others have condemned the authorities and the law-enforcement system, which are guided by double standards, in one case protecting their own, and in the other neglecting more obvious encroachments on disfavored persons.  In the case of the latter the judges are Alexander Azaryan, David Grigoryan, Alvina Gyulumyan, David Balayan. As for the case of Danibekyan on September 27, the law enforcement agencies, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Ombudsman and the Minister of Justice also disseminated information. What is meant here, is that adding to this the criminal case, the discriminatory attitude really becomes apparent.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the public reaction to the latest incident is not accidental. In this case we are referring to the judge investigating the case of the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and other high-ranking officials – a circumstance which is conditioned by the common interest and the sincere urge to support the judge. According to press reports, Anna Danibekyan is from a modest family, has become a judge by her own strength and knowledge, has no sponsor either in the present or in the former government, that is to say, she is alone against everyone. Consequently, needs the most support and encouragement of the public. Especially since Kocharyan is “almighty” on the opposite side, with his team of supporters quite formidable and, perhaps, mercenary. It was the two young “players” of that team who, at about 8:15 pm on September 27, decided to stalk a judge who had rejected the detention of the second president by trying to insult and humiliate her by unnecessary questions and to put her under psychological pressure. Judging from the vocabulary used by the journalist, “Are you one of the judges whining under the walls?” one can surely guess from which side the wind is blowing. Anna Danibekyan, who had filed a motion to deny Kocharyan a restraining order, applied to the second president’s lawyer Hayk Alumyan just days before. Apparently, Kocharyan’s team has a clear stipulation: the youth are committed to continue and develop the senior leadership’s initiatives. And the copyright of the phrase “judges whining under the walls” is, as is well known, belongs to the Prime Minister.

Whatever: Let’s finish the comment with the following post by human rights defender Ruben Melikyan: “Representatives of the ruling political force have no ‘face’ to criticize what happened – they just opened the Pandora’s box, blocking the courts, prosecuting Judges Azaryan and Grigoryan in different ways, calling the judges” harassers .” Have the wisdom to mitigate as much as you can.”

Aptly said and, most importantly, correctly.  

Commentary by Gevorg Lalayan

EAU leaders and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong signed an agreement on free trade zone in Yerevan on October 1, according to the Russian TASS news agency. Kazakh President Kasim-Jomart Tokayev told the media, adding that this is the second country after Vietnam to sign a corresponding document with the EAEU.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Yerevan on October 1. This was reported by the Armenian Prime Minister on Facebook. The two leaders praised the results of the EAEU summit in Yerevan, in particular the participation of the leaders of Iran and Singapore in the session, the signing of a free trade agreement with Singapore and the entry into force of the document signed with Iran. Pashinyan and Putin also stressed the strategic nature of the Armenian-Russian relations.

At a September 30 special government session, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the executive approved the 2020 state budget bill. Accordingly, next year’s state budget revenues will total 1 trillion 697 billion 618 million 538.8 thousand drams, expenditures – 1 trillion 880 billion 186 million 389.8 thousand drams, deficit – 182 billion 567 million 851.0 thousand drams.