Category: 2020

 11:12,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. 1482 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 117,337, the ministry of healthcare said today.

879 more patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 74,984.

3395 tests were conducted in the past one day.

25 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 1763.

The number of active cases is 40,140.

The number of patients who had a coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 450 (2 new such cases).

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 12:14,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian held a telephone conversation with President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Perch Sedrakian, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The officials discussed the latest developments around Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and the current situation in the country within this context.

They emphasized the national meaning and importance of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian President and the ABGU Chairman agreed that in such situation it’s necessary to maintain stability and national unity in the country.

They also stated that Artsakh is facing major humanitarian problems today, adding that everyone should bring his/her contribution to solving them in order to be able to jointly overcome all the challenges.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 12:18,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenian defense ministry’s spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan called the reports spread on the internet about arms sale as a “brazen lie”.

The spokesperson said such reports aims at discrediting the defense ministry.

“It’s a brazen lie and manipulation aimed at discrediting the defense ministry. The circulating documents based on which the thesis is being formed, are mostly fake. Any investigative journalist can send inquires to both the respective structures of Armenia and the indicated states and be convinced that everything is a fabrication. Official clarification will be provided soon”, she said.

Information is being spread on the internet according to which Armenia’s defense minister Davit Tonoyan has been involved in arms sale deals with other officials.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 12:24,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Russia’s coronavirus case tally grew by 22,572 in the past day to 1,925,825, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.

Currently, 452,654 people are ill in Russia.

Russia’s coronavirus recoveries grew by 14,456 in the past day to 1,439,985.

Russia’s coronavirus death toll rose by 352 in the past day to 33,186.

 12:41,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Artsakh reported today that an additional 51 of its servicemen have been killed in action during the war.

The total death toll in the Artsakh Defense Army has reached 1434.

On November 14 Armenian healthcare ministry’s spokesperson Alina Nikoghosyan stated that to date the forensic service has examined bodies of 2137 killed servicemen, which also include unidentified ones.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:57,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenian defense ministry’s spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan has commented on the reports according to which the defense ministry of Armenia has sold weapons and ammunition to Turkey via a private company, and that weapons then appeared in the hands of pro-Turkish terrorists in Syria.

The spokesperson also commented on the reports relating to Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan, as well as the ministry.

Shushan Stepanyan stated on social media that Armenia’s defense ministry has never sold any type of weapon or ammunition to Turkey through any channel.

“Since yesterday, a number of obvious and more likely directed fake claims are being widely spread by some media outlets and Facebook users, aimed at putting a shadow on the reputation of the Armenian defense ministry. Not so much going further on the goals and selection of the applied tools of that dirty information campaign and leaving it to the actions of the law enforcement agencies, we consider it necessary to respond to some provisions presented in that reports:

1. Armenia’s defense ministry has sold weapons and ammunition to Turkey via a private company, from where it then appeared in the hands of pro-Turkish terrorists in Syria.

This is a total and brazen lie. Armenia’s defense ministry has never sold any type of weapon or ammunition to Turkey through any channel. Most of the documents attached to the report are interpreted in a distorted way, and this disinformation is being formed based on this distortion.

By the way, having the fact of the actual leak of official documents of the state agency, it becomes very remarkable that the aforementioned documents have been confiscated by the National Security Service of Armenia for examination back in 2018.

2. It is allegedly presented that Armenia’s defense ministry has lent 3.5 million USD to a private company for unknown reasons, and the head of that company has friendly ties with defense minister Davit Tonoyan.

This is a total and brazen lie. The defense ministry has provided that loan to that company to ensure the continuation of arms supply to Armenia from a third country. Moreover, at the moment of providing the loan, that company has already delivered a part of the ordered ammunition, the cost of which was more than the provided one. And the total cost of the deal was much more than the amount of the mentioned loan.

3. It is stated that at the beginning of the war, some private individuals have proposed the defense ministry to purchase body armor from Russia at 300 USD, but the ministry rejected this offer and then acquired the same body armor at over 1000 USD through another private company.

This is a total and brazen lie. The defense ministry, in accordance with the respective contracts signed between Armenia and Russia, acquires Russian-made weapons, ammunition and armament at the Russian domestic prices. In this particular case, the aforementioned body armors, as well as respective armored helmets with a limited amount have been acquired exclusively for special divisions through the Russian state structures.

4. It is also stated that during the war launched on September 27 Armenia’s defense minister Davit Tonoyan allegedly was in Maldives to attend a birthday party of one of his friends.

This is a total and brazen lie. At the beginning and the day before the war Davit Tonoyan has been in Kazakhstan for participating in the Caucasus-2020 multinational military drills, and a respective official news release has been provided. Upon the start of the war the minister returned to Armenia, but had to make his return through the territory of a third country, in particular Bulgaria due to the limited air communication caused by the coronavirus. This fact can be easily checked through respective inquiries”, the spokesperson stated.

Armenia’s defense ministry strongly condemns the spread of such kind of fake reports, viewing this as a criminal activity aimed at distorting the security grounds of the country and urges the media outlets spreading these reports to deny them. The ministry also expects an operative response from the law enforcement agencies in finding the authors who spread these documents and launching respective legal processes.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:38,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Search operations for soldiers and civilians missing in action, as well as exchange of bodies of servicemen killed during the recent military operations in Nagorno Karabakh have continued on November 14 until late at night with the involvement of Russian peacekeeping troops and ICRC representatives, Armenian defense ministry’s spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan reports.

Exchange of bodies of killed soldiers was held at the Line of Contact.

The search operations resumed today early morning with the participation of the representatives of Armenia’s defense ministry, the Russian peacekeeping troops, ICRC, Artsakh’s Defense Army and State Emergency Service.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 15:53,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The deadline for the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Artsakh’s Karvachar region has been extended.

According to some reports, the new date for the withdrawal is set November 25, instead of November 15.

On November 9 Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a statement on a full ceasefire and cessation of all military actions in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone since 01:00 Yerevan Time on November 10. Russian peacekeepers are being deployed to Nagorno Karabakh.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:03,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov held a telephone conversation today with Azerbaijani foreign minister Jeyhun Bayramov at Baku’s initiative, the Russian MFA reported.

“The ministers discussed in-detail the process of implementation of the joint statement signed by the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan on November 9, relating to complete ceasefire and cessation of all hostilities in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. A special attention was paid to the coordination of practical steps of the sides of this statement, in the context of deployment of Russian peacekeeping troops and organization of their activities on the “land””, the ministry said.

At the request of the Azerbaijani FM, Minister Lavrov presented main activity directions of the Humanitarian Response Inter-agency Center established by the Russian presidential decree on November 13.

The Russian and Azerbaijani FMs highlighted the necessity of active involvement of international organizations, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNDP, UNESCO and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) aimed at contributing to the post-conflict restoration, solving humanitarian problems, and preserving religious and cultural heritage in the region.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan