Category: 2020

                                        Wednesday, 
Government Vows Utility Bill Relief For Struggling Families
        • Artak Khulian
Armenia - The Gazprom Armenia headquarters in Yerevan, 31Oct2014.
Armenia’s public utility companies have agreed not cut off electricity, natural 
gas and water supplies to people failing to pay their bills because of economic 
disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
said on Wednesday.
The crisis has led to the temporary closure of various businesses across the 
country. Many of them put their workers on unpaid leave.
Workers with modest salaries and no cash savings have been hit particularly hard 
by the stoppage. Some of them are now unable to pay their utility bills for last 
month.
At least one utility, the Gazprom-Armenia gas operator, has refused to grant 
them a reprieve. One of its employees, Lusine Arustamian, spoke to RFE/RL’s 
Armenian service as she disconnected defaulting households of a Yerevan 
neighborhood from supplies on Wednesday.
Arustamian said that most of its residents have not yet paid their gas bills. 
She said the Gazprom-Armenia management ordered her to cut off gas supplies to 
them.
Pensioner Araksya Poghosian lives in of the disconnected apartments with her 
daughter and a grandchild. She said the gas operator declined her request to 
wait until the end of this month.
Opposition lawmakers cited more such stories during the Armenian government’s 
question-and-answer session in the parliament. They demanded urgent government 
assistance to the affected families.
Pashinian spoke out against opposition calls for freezing all utility payments, 
saying that such a measure would be exploited by unscrupulous consumers who can 
pay their bills. He also argued many other Armenians, notably public sector 
employees, continue to receive their wages despite the coronavirus lockdown.
Pashinian said the utility bill relief should therefore cover only needy 
families. He said the Armenian government has already reached relevant 
understandings with Gazprom-Armenia, the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) 
power utility and the Veolia-Djur national water operator.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian confirmed “preliminary” agreements with ENA 
and Veolia-Djur and said a similar deal with Gazprom-Armenia will be finalized 
later on Wednesday.
ENA told RFE/RL’s Armenian service earlier this week that it will not cut 
electricity supplies to low-income consumers for the time being.
Armenian Police Enforce Coronavirus Lockdown
        • Susan Badalian
Armenia -- Police officers check documents of a man in Yerevan as part of a 
coronavirus lockdown imposed by the government, .
Police in Armenia stopped cars and pedestrians and warned other citizens to stay 
at home on Wednesday as they began enforcing a nationwide lockdown aimed at 
stopping the spread of coronavirus.
Unprecedented restrictions on people’s movement imposed by the Armenian 
government late on Tuesday mean that people are only allowed out to buy food, 
receive medical care or briefly exercise near their places of residence. The 
curfew does not apply to a limited number of public and private sector employees 
allowed to continue to go to work.
As is the case in France and other European countries, all citizens must not 
only carry valid IDs but also fill out a form specifying their reasons to leave 
their homes. The form must contain the carrier’s name and birthdate. It can be 
downloaded from a government website or drawn by hand.
As police began patrolling the largely deserted streets of Yerevan it emerged 
that many passersby did not fill out such forms. Some of them instead showed 
police officers their bags filled with groceries bought in supermarkets.
One elderly woman claimed to be unaware of the requirement. “Who is supposed to 
issue such papers?” she said.
“I don’t know who and what should be written there,” said another pensioner.
Armenia -- A police officer checks documents of a woman in Yerevan as part of a 
coronavirus lockdown imposed by the government, .
There seemed to be greater compliance with the rule in the center of Yerevan. 
“I’m taking my grandchild home,” one woman there said after showing policemen a 
form which she said was filled out by her daughter.
A deputy chief of the Armenian police, Hayk Mherian, said in the morning that 
officers will avoid fining or briefly detaining people in the first hours of the 
lockdown. “But we will be fully enforcing the law after 4 p.m.,” he told 
reporters.
Under a government bill passed by the Armenian parliament on Monday, citizens 
defying quarantine or self-isolation orders issued by health authorities will 
face not only heavy fines but also up to five years in prison. There were more 
than 3,000 quarantined people in Armenia as of Tuesday evening, according to the 
authorities.
Another lockdown rule bans private cars from carrying more than one passenger at 
a time apart from the driver. Mherian said police ordered 92 people out of cars 
for this reason at the start of the emergency street patrols across the country.
Karabakh Elections Not Cancelled Despite Coronavirus Concerns
        • Ruzanna Stepanian
Nagorno-Karabakh -- The parliament building in Stepanakert, September 7, 2018.
Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have registered no cases of coronavirus so far 
and are not planning to cancel presidential and parliamentary elections 
scheduled for March 31, a senior official in Stepanakert said on Wednesday.
“If such a decision [to delay the elections] was made there would be an official 
statement to that effect,” Tigran Abrahamian, a spokesman for a Karabakh task 
force coordinating measures against coronavirus, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Earlier in the day, the task force urged Karabakh residents to refrain for the 
next seven days from travelling to Armenia where the number of confirmed 
coronavirus cases reached 265 the previous night.
The spread of the COVID-19 virus has led the Armenian government to declare a 
state of emergency and cancel a constitutional referendum that was due to be 
held on April 5. It has also fuelled calls for the Karabakh polls to be 
postponed by several months.
Abrahamian stressed that no coronavirus cases have been recorded in Karabakh so 
far. He said the authorities in Stepanakert have quarantined, as a precautionary 
measure, more than two dozen people, most of them Karabakh students of Armenian 
and other foreign universities who have returned home due to the pandemic.
The official also said that all members of Karabakh election commissions will 
have protective gloves, face masks and hand sanitizers during the March 31 vote. 
Also, he said, they will give every Karabakh voter a single-use pen for signing 
registration documents at polling stations.
The idea of delaying the elections is backed by some political forces in 
Karabakh, notably the opposition National Revival party. Its leader, Hayk 
Khanumian, argued on Wednesday that the polls are due to be monitored by 
hundreds of observers from Armenia. He said they would pose a health risk for 
Karabakh.
Daniel Ioannisian, a Yerevan-based civic activist whose Union of Informed 
Citizens plans to deploy 100 election observers in Karabakh, sought to allay 
these fears. He argued that hundreds of people are continuing to travel between 
Karabakh and Armenia on a daily basis.
“We will measure the temperature of all our observers both in Yerevan and right 
before their entry into polling stations,” said Ioannisian. “The observers’ 
physical contacts in Karabakh will be reduced to a minimum, and we already have 
sufficient quantities of face masks and hand sanitizers for them.”
The upcoming elections are expected to be the most democratic, competitive and 
unpredictable in Karabakh’s history.
Observers believe that only three of the 14 presidential candidates stand a 
chance of succeeding Bako Sahakian, Karabakh’s outgoing president who has been 
in office since 2007. Those are Karabakh’s Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian, 
former Prime Minister Arayik Harutiunian and retired army General Vitaly 
Balasanian.
The Karabakh parliamentary race is also tightly contested, with over 300 
candidates representing 12 parties and blocs vying for 32 seats in the local 
legislature.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
 

                                        Tuesday, 
More Armenians Released From Coronavirus Quarantine
Armenia -- An ambulance leaves the Nork Infectious Disease Hospital, Yerevan, 
March 20, 2020.
Fourteen people in Armenia have recovered from coronavirus and dozens of others 
have been released from quarantine, Health Minister Arsen Torosian announced 
late on Tuesday.
In a Facebook post, Torosian said 12 of the patients never showed any 
coronavirus symptoms and did not require hospitalization while the two others 
were cured at Yerevan’s Nork hospital specializing in treatment of infectious 
diseases.
“Another two citizens treated at the Nork hospital have tested negative for the 
virus, and if they test negative again tomorrow they too will be discharged,” he 
wrote shortly after the number of registered coronavirus cases in Armenia rose 
by 14 to 249.
Torosian added that as of Tuesday evening a total of 88 Armenians were released 
from confinement after their coronavirus tests came back negative. He said 37 of 
them were isolated at home while the others were quarantined for 14 days in 
state-owned hotels and other facilities.
Armenia -- President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian (L) meets with Minister of 
Health Arsen Torosian, 20Mar2020.
The first group of quarantined Armenians was released last week. They came into 
contact with an infected man who returned to Armenia from neighboring Iran at 
the end of February.
Shortly before Torosian’s update, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reported that 
868 people remain in quarantine and more than 2,400 others in home isolation. 
Pashinian released these figures as he announced stringent restrictions on 
people’s movement imposed by his government.
Pashinian revealed that a 77-year-old Armenian infected with the COVID-19 virus 
is in an “extremely grave” condition. Doctors regard as “grave” the condition of 
four other coronavirus patients, he said.
Armenian health authorities reported no coronavirus deaths as of Tuesday night.
Most of the infected Armenians are treated at the Nork hospital, which is now 
being expanded amid a continuing increase in the number of coronavirus cases in 
the country. Torosian wrote earlier in the day that the authorities will soon 
bring online around 670 new hospital beds at Nork and three other hospitals to 
deal with the unprecedented pandemic.
The minister also said that the hospitals now have 41 lung ventilators and that 
the authorities are scrambling to acquire more such devices.
Nationwide Lockdown Imposed In Armenia
Armenia -- People wear face masks at a bus stop in Yerevan, March 17, 2020.
The Armenian government stepped up on Tuesday its efforts to contain the spread 
of coronavirus, saying that people in Armenia will only be allowed to leave 
their homes to buy food, receive medical care or exercise.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced the nationwide lockdown in the evening 
as the number of officially registered coronavirus cases in the country rose by 
14 to 249. He said one of the persons infected with the COVID-19 virus, a 
77-year-old man, is in “extremely grave” and four others in “grave” condition.
In Pashinian’s words, 868 Armenians remained in quarantine and more than 2,400 
others in self-isolation. He said 37 other people were released from a two-week 
quarantine on Tuesday after testing negative for coronavirus.
The premier also announced that four more patients recovered from the virus and 
were discharged from hospital on Tuesday. Two others were reportedly cured of 
the disease last week.
“This [lockdown] means that the work of thousands of enterprises will be halted 
and only vitally necessary entities will be allowed to operate,” Pashinian said 
in a televised address to the nation. “Our fellow citizens taking to the streets 
will have to clearly explain where they are going and those explanations must 
fit into the logic of people’s vital movements.”
“I want to apologize to all of your for these restrictions and inconvenience,” 
he said. “But I hope it is obvious to all of you that this is done for your 
safety and the safety of our parents and grandparents: pillars of our national 
self-consciousness.”
Earlier in the day, a government task force enforcing a coronavirus-related 
state of emergency in Armenia announced a de facto partial closure of virtually 
all state agencies. It said only a limited number of their employees will be 
allowed to go to work.
Acting on Pashinian’s earlier decision announced overnight, the government also 
ordered the temporary closure of all cafes and restaurants as well as most 
businesses in the country.
In his latest address, Pashinian urged Armenians to use, if possible, online 
services provided by state and private entities. He also stressed that food 
stores, pharmacies and bank offices will remain open and that no restrictions 
will be placed on agricultural work.
“We are overcoming coronavirus step by step … Rest assured that we will defeat 
this evil,” concluded Pashinian.
Arrest Warrant Issued For Former Armenian Minister
Armenia -- Mayor Gagik Beglarian attends public celebrations in Yerevan, October 
9, 2010.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) moved on Tuesday to arrest Gagik 
Beglarian, a controversial former government minister and Yerevan mayor, after 
bringing corruption charges against him.
In a statement, the NSS claimed that Beglarian illegally privatized a 
kindergarten building in central Yerevan when he ran the Armenian capital from 
2009-2011. Beglarian paid only 24 million drams ($51,000) to buy the 
kindergarten, the statement said, adding that the market value of the 
200-square-meter property was almost ten times higher.
The statement also said that although a Yerevan court has allowed investigators 
to arrest Beglarian, the latter is not in Armenia at the moment. The NSS will 
try to track him down and seek his extradition, it said.
The security service did not shed more light on the once influential 
ex-minister’s whereabouts.
A former senior member of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of 
Armenia (HHK), the 56-year-old Beglarian is no stranger to controversy. He was 
forced to resign as Yerevan mayor in December 2010 after reportedly assaulting 
an official from the presidential administration’s protocol unit. The official, 
Aram Kandayan, incurred Beglarian’s ire after asking the latter’s wife not to 
sit next to Sarkisian during an opera concert in Yerevan.
Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian speaks at the inauguration of Yerevan's new 
mayor, Gagik Beglarian, on 11Jun2009
Beglarian and his bodyguards reportedly kidnapped and beat up Kandayan 
afterwards. Beglarian was never prosecuted for what a presidential spokesman 
condemned as an “unacceptable and intolerable” behavior.
He was on the contrary appointed as transport minister in June 2012. He held 
that post for four years.
Beglarian, who is better known as “Black Gago,” used to hold sway in a central 
Yerevan neighborhood notorious for election-related violence against opposition 
activists. Opposition groups for years accused him of leading a local clan that 
rigged elections and bullied the government’s political opponents. Beglarian and 
the former ruling HHK always denied those allegations.
Critics of Armenia’s former leadership also claimed that individuals like 
Beglarian enjoy de facto impunity because Sarkisian heavily relies on them to 
stay in power.
Sarkisian, his two brothers as well as some of his current and former political 
allies have been prosecuted for alleged corruption since the 2018 “Velvet 
Revolution” in Armenia. The ex-president rejects embezzlement charges leveled 
against him as politically motivated.
Armenian Government To Order More Closures As Coronavirus Cases Rise
Armenia -- Medical workers are seen outside the Nork hospital in Yerevan where 
coronavirus patients are treated, March 20, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday night that his government will 
order the closure of all cafes, restaurants and most other businesses due to a 
continuing spread of coronavirus in Armenia.
Pashinian made the announcement as the number of officially registered 
coronavirus cases in the country rose by 41 to 235. He described as “worrying” 
the fact that some of the new infections were detected at two manufacturing 
facilities located in Yerevan and central Kotayk province.
Dozens of people working at another Yerevan factory reportedly contracted the 
virus earlier this month. According to Armenian officials, a visitor from Italy 
was the primary source of those infections.
“In these circumstances, we have to take more restrictive measures in order to 
be able to stop the further spread of the virus,” Pashinian said in a Facebook 
video appeal aired shortly after midnight.
For that purpose, he said, the government will close all cafes, restaurants and 
most other private enterprises for at least one week. A government body 
enforcing the coronavirus-related state of emergency in Armenia will release a 
list of those enterprises on Tuesday, he said.
Pashinian stressed that food stores as well as firms manufacturing foodstuffs, 
beverages and personal hygiene items will be allowed to continue to operate for 
now.
Armenia -- An empty street cafe in Yerevan, March 14, 2020.
“I am calling on our compatriots to stay at home as much as possible and to 
leave their homes only in case of extreme necessity,” added Pashinian.
All Armenian bars, night clubs and other entertainment spots were shut down on 
Sunday. The government reported 190 coronavirus cases at that point.
Pashinian stressed that only 25 of the individuals infected with the deadly 
virus to date are suffering from pneumonia. He insisted that their lives are not 
at risk.
Two other patients have recovered from the disease in the past week, according 
to Armenian health authorities. The authorities have reported no fatalities yet.
Some 600 Armenians were kept in quarantine and hundreds of others in 
self-isolation before the announcement of the latest official COVID-19 
statistics. In Pashinian’s words, more than 70 of them will undergo final 
coronavirus tests at the end of their two-week confinement on Tuesday. He said 
there are “grounds to think” that most of them will test negative for the virus.
The premier did not say how many new confinement orders will be issued by the 
authorities as a result of the latest coronavirus cases.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.