Category: 2020

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday held a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Kremlin said.

The leaders discussed in detail the Nagorno-Karabakh developments. Vladimir Putin told Angela Merkel about Russia’s mediation efforts with a view towards a cessation of hostilities and the activities of the Russian peacekeepers deployed along the contact line and the Lachin corridor at the requests of Baku and Yerevan. It was emphasised that the consistent implementation of the agreements recorded in the November 9 statement by the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia facilitated the general stabilisation of the situation in the region.

The two leaders underscored the importance of resolving the urgent problems of the population that was affected by the armed clashes. In this context, they noted the need to involve specialised international structures in the work conducted by the Russia-established Humanitarian Response Centre.

Both leaders expressed their willingness to further cooperate within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

There is no exact data on the demarcation of the borders of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) with Azerbaijan, which has sparked concerns among the public, including the scientific community.

In an interview to Panorama.am, Associate Professor at the Department of Ecology and Nature Protection of the Yerevan State University, Head of the Department of Hydroecology of the Institute of Hydroecology and Ichthyology at the National Academy of Sciences Lusine Hambaryan said that Armenia has estuaries of strategic importance, and it is yet unknown whether they will be under Armenia’s or Azerbaijan’s control.

“First, our safety is not ensured. When we go out to Lake Sevan on a research vessel to take water samples, shots are fired. Under such conditions, when the border has become so close, obviously there is a cause for concern,” Ghambaryan said.

“Today we do not have any specific information on how it will be examined and regulated. In addition, there are no security guarantees, since the agreement with the enemy [Azerbaijan] is not specific. With the use of GPS, some borders are being drawn. Groups of specialists were supposed to work there, do you understand? We’re in a collapse. Obviously, we can claim that the river estuaries controlled by the enemy pose a threat as we know who we are dealing with,” she stressed.

According to the scientist, the extent to which the existence of Lake Sevan is in danger now depends on the demarcation of the borders.

“I don’t know how the borders are supposed to be demarcated, but no official information is provided to any specialist either. You see, there is no struggle. They need to listen to people, but today they are only talking about drawing borders, what borders? Of course there are threats.

“We do not obtain any information on what exactly is happening. As a result, if a situation emerges where the borders move close to the estuaries and we lose Arpa and Vorotan, it will naturally have a negative impact on Lake Sevan. Apart from that, in a wartime it often happens that estuaries are deliberately poisoned in order to cause great harm to the population. Thus, there are numerus threats and reasons for concern,” Hambaryan said.

Water conflicts and wars have been known since ancient times. And today the price of drinking water in some countries is equal to that of oil. In the 21st century, freshwater resources are of strategic importance and are under strict control especially in developed countries.

According to Lusine Hambaryan, Azerbaijan is experiencing a serious problem with water resources, and over the past years Armenia could have made a “tool” out of water by allowing the construction of reservoirs being fed by its rivers. However, this was not done, and now Armenia has to fight not to lose strategically important water resources.  

From a scientific point of view, Azerbaijan’s viewpoint regarding the presentation of the churches in Artsakh as Afghan will not stand a chance against criticism, but the Armenian side has a lot of work to do, Director of the Institute of Literature after Manuk Abeghyan at Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philology Vardan Devrikyan told a news conference on Monday.

“We must present our well-grounded viewpoint to the world. It is possible to do it through interdisciplinary means, which entails specific efforts by the Institutes of History and Archeology, as well as ethnography,” he said.

According to the philologist, Armenia lost the information war during the recent war with Azerbaijan, and the country is factually losing the cartographic war now.

“Azerbaijan also takes a favorable position over our country in the cartographic war. I announce that a war of history and culture is starting. Under these conditions, if the draft law “On Higher Education and Science” is adopted, it will push us to a direct defeat in this war.

“Why is such a bill introduced to the National Assembly? Do the people who submitted the bill realize this or do they contribute to our new defeats?” he asked.

Vardan Devrikyan. who took part in the Artsakh liberation war and the April 2016 war, but not in the recent war, found it hard to outline the reason for the defeat of the Armenian side.

“We heard different contradictory statements. In any case, the atmosphere in our country was not favorable in any way for us to win the war and show more effective resistance. The split in society, the self-confidence in many issues… History is the greatest judge, it will raise those issues, but in any case now we must be able to take a sober look, we are in the process of defeats every day.

“We must stand firm at one point and try to move forward. All our efforts today must be aimed at it. If it is not done, I will reserve myself the right to think, like many others, that this defeat was premeditated,” Devrikyan added. 

The issue of exchange of captives and bodies of killed as well as the search of missing servicemen is very sensitive war and demands quick solutions, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian stated today at the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

“It is particularly important regarding prisoners of war and not only, on the background of the numerous confirmed facts of in the direct sense of word barbaric attitude toward them. Among the mentioned issues is also the one on preservation of Armenian religious and cultural sites. We are hopeful that Russia, both in national and as OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing country will promote the solution of the issues and the peaceful settlement of the conflict which will be implemented by the future activity of the institute of co-chairmanship,” the minister said.

He stressed that in parallel with the allied cooperation he is ready to view the key aspects of bilateral relations in political, defense, trade, economic and humanitarian sectors as well as discuss multisided agenda of the EAEU, CSTO and CIS and the issue of coordination of positions of foreign policy in UN, OSCE and other international organizations.

“I am convinced that the mutual focus on efficiency of the visit will promote the further development of allied cooperation, the reinforcement of security and stability in the South Caucasian region,” Aivazian stressed.