Mesrop Tadevosyan was 18 when he began his mandatory military service in August 2020. Mesrop was finishing nearly two months of training at the start of the Second Karabakh War. At the beginning of October, Mesrop’s commander announced that he and his fellow servicemen were going to the north of Artsakh, to a detachment called Yeghnikner.
“Whoever is afraid, may stay behind,” said Mesrop’s commander.
11:05,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. 242 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 166,669, the ministry of healthcare said today.
592 more patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 156,645.
11 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 3067.
1980 tests were conducted in the past one day.
The number of active cases is 6195.
The number of patients who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 762 (1 new such case).
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
11:24,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. In order to speak about stability, security and peace in the region it is first of all necessary to create an atmosphere of trust, and this in turn requires the repatriation of the Armenian PoWs held in Azerbaijan, Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian told reporters.
“An atmosphere of trust is created in the event of solving highly important issues, first of all the issue of the release of our captives. I think Azerbaijan ought to understand that this is a humanitarian issue and if this issue continues being manipulated, I am sure it will be problematic for Azerbaijan,” Aivazian said.
FM Aivazian said the governmental inter-departmental task force is working every day over this issue.
“If you’ve noticed the international pressure is growing every day and I hope Azerbaijan will understand that this issue must have an urgent resolution,” the FM said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
11:26,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. Catholicos Garegin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church has reiterated the church’s stance demanding the Prime Minister Pashinyan to step down.
“There is no change in our convictions and stance,” the Armenian Church leader told reporters at the Yerablur military cemetery where he was visiting to honor fallen troops on Army Day.
“Never before has the country been in such a difficult situation, we’ve never had such a loss of the homeland, the country has never faced such dangers. Uncertainty for tomorrow has never been so alarming for our people. In such conditions, naturally the church had to express itself,” Garegin II said.
He reiterated that the church is guided by national and state interests, and if the church’ stance is in line with the stance of any group or political force it shouldn’t be interpreted as bias for any given political party. “The Church is above politics,” he said.
Catholicos Garegin II publicly asked the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign in December 2020.
Aram I, the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, joined Garegin II in the appeal.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
11:33,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, strongly condemns the desecration of the Armenian churches in the territories of Artsakh occupied by Azerbaijan.
“Of course, we strongly condemn such cases and make efforts so that the international community will also condemn such incidents”, His Holiness Garegin II told reporters in the Yerablur Military Pantheon where he visited to pay tribute to the memory of fallen heroes on the Army Day.
He thanked the Russian leadership, as well as the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill for the support which made possible the continuation of the operation of the Dadivank Monastery in Artsakh.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
11:40,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. 8 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Artsakh in the past 24 hours.
54 tests were conducted on January 27, the ministry of healthcare told Armenpress.
A total of 2318 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Artsakh.
The number of active cases is 29.
The death toll stands at 31.
The ministry of healthcare has again urged the citizens to follow all the rules to avoid new outbreaks and overcome the disease.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
13:28,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. Russia’s coronavirus cases grew by 19,138 in the past day to 3,793,810, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.
The average growth rate reached 0.51%.
Moscow confirmed 2,897 new COVID-19 cases in the past day. Some 2,128 cases were registered in St. Petersburg, 939 in the Moscow Region, 469 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 382 in the Voronezh Region and 375 in the Rostov Region.
Currently, 492,901 people are undergoing treatment for the coronavirus in Russia.
14:51,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, visited on January 28 the Yerablur Military Pantheon to pay tribute to the memory of soldiers fallen for the defense of the Homeland, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin told Armenpress.
His Holiness Garegin II was accompanied by a group of clergymen.
January 28 marks the 29th anniversary of the foundation of the Armenian Armed Forces.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
15:10,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received French Minister of State for Tourism, French Nationals Abroad and Francophonie, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, the PM’s Office told Armenpress.
The private talk of the Armenian PM and the French Minister of State was following by an extended-format meeting.
Welcoming the French delegation members, the PM said: “Our meeting is taking place in continuation of the agreement reached with President Macron and is reflecting the unique relations of France and Armenia. High-level and warm dialogue exists and has existed traditionally between our countries, and I want to express our gratitude for the personal involvement of President Emmanuel Macron, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian demonstrated from the very first day of the recent war. Of course, we have passed through a very heavy war, had many losses and have a very complex situation as a result. And this visit is very important in terms of resisting the current challenges and also using the existing opportunities. Our discussions and agenda also have economic, humanitarian aspects, and please convey my gratitude to President Macron for our talk and such a rapid response to our agreements”.
In his turn the French Minister of State thanked the Prime Minister of Armenia for the warm welcome and stated that his delegation includes representatives from the French treasury, the French Development Agency, adding that his visit is the continuation of the Armenian PM’s agreements and discussions held with the French President. “It was very important for our President to be able to respond to each of your needs as quickly as possible. In December the talk was about the urgency, and the arrival of several planes delivering aid to Armenia was conditioned by that, which once again shows the friendship between our countries and peoples. After the urgency, currently, as you said, the economic projects in the mid-run and long-run are important, and in this respect I want to thank everyone who are having intense meetings in different agencies for a week”.
Issues relating to the development of the relations between Armenia and France, including the possible support to attracting investments, were discussed during the meeting. The meeting also touched upon the agenda of the bilateral economic partnership. The sides highlighted transportation, water reservoir construction, agriculture, high technologies, digital innovation as prospective spheres. In this context the Prime Minister proposed to consider the cooperation opportunities between the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) and the French Development Agency, and the French side shared this view.
Pashinyan also talked about the expansion of education cooperation, the successful example of which is the activity of the French University in Armenia.
An agreement was reached to form a bilateral inter-agency working communication platform and continue the works over programs of mutual interest.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
15:45,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the Armenian Army Day, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin visited today the defense ministry where he met with minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan, the Armenian defense ministry told Armenpress.
The Ambassador congratulated Vagharshak Harutyunyan and Onik Gasparyan on the Army Day, wishing success and highlighting the strategic level of the Armenian-Russian relations in the field of defense.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan