Category: 2022

 11:26, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Armen Sargsyan (pictured right), a senior diplomat, former ambassador and the brother of ex-Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan passed away.

The former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan announced the passing of his brother in a statement on social media. “My dear brother, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia, passed away from a chronic illness,” Tigran Sargsyan said.

During his diplomatic career, Armen Sargsyan served as Armenia’s Ambassador to China, Vietnam, Singapore, Mongolia and Bulgaria.

 12:03, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. A bipartisan group of 64 U.S. Representatives called on leaders of the House Appropriations Committee to stop military aid to Azerbaijan and allocate $150 million for Artsakh and Armenia to address the ongoing humanitarian and security crises caused by the Erdogan and Aliyev regimes, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“We stand with the 64 Congressional cosigners of the Armenian Caucus FY 2023 Foreign Aid letter in calling for robust U.S. aid to Artsakh and Armenia, to counter Azerbaijan’s ongoing attacks and provide life-changing assistance to the 100,000 Armenians displaced from their ancestral Artsakh homes during the 2020 war,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We will continue to work with House and Senate appropriators in the upcoming months to ensure that no U.S. tax dollars are used to aid and abet Turkey and Azerbaijan’s genocidal policies.”

In the Armenian Caucus letter to Appropriations Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Ranking Member Hal Rogers (R-KY), led by Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), legislators explained that “the people of Artsakh continue to face severe hardships caused both by the deadly 44-day war Azerbaijani forces provoked in 2020 and their ongoing provocations against innocent civilians to this day.” They continued to note that $50 million in Artsakh assistance “would help provide Armenian refugees with the aid, housing, food security, water and sanitation, health care, rehabilitation, and demining/UXO clearance they need to reconstruct their communities, rebuild their lives, and resettle their homes.”

In their calls for $100 million in assistance for Armenia, legislators explained, “this critical investment will build on past support for Armenia and Artsakh by the Subcommittee and will help strengthen the U.S.-Armenia strategic partnership, solidify our presence, and grow our influence in the region.”

Congressional lawmakers also stressed the importance of ending U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan, in the face of ongoing Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia and Artsakh. “The overdue process of holding Azerbaijan accountable must begin with Congress encouraging the Administration to fully enforce Section 907, restricting the State Department’s authority to waive this law, and enacting statutory prohibitions on any new U.S. military or security aid to Azerbaijan.” The letter specifically referenced recent findings from a Government Accountability Office report that “the State Department likely violated Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act in sending this and other assistance to Azerbaijan from 2014 to 2021. They did so by not properly consulting and communicating with Congress on what processes they used to determine whether U.S. aid to Azerbaijan could be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.”

The Congressional letter also called on the House Appropriations Committee to express their concern regarding Azerbaijan’s ongoing illegal imprisonment of over 200 Armenian POWs from the 2020 Artsakh war and to direct the U.S. State Department to “to engage at all levels with Azerbaijani authorities, including through the OSCE Minsk Group process, to make clear the importance of adhering to their obligations, under the November 9 statement and international law, to immediately release all prisoners of war and captured civilians.”

Joining Rep. Pallone in cosigning the letter to House appropriators were Representatives: Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Jim Banks (R-IN), Nanette Barragan (D-CA), Don Beyer (D-VA), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Joaquín Castro (D-TX), Judy Chu (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Lou Correa (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Brian Higgins (D-NY), Jim Himes (D-CT), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), James Langevin (D-RI), Andy Levin (D-MI), Mike Levin (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), James McGovern (D-MA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Richard Neal (D-MA), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Kathleen Rice (D-NY), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Dina Titus (D-NV), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Lori Trahan (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Susan Wild (D-PA).

 12:39, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. The number one beneficiary of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement is Artsakh and the people of Artsakh, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting with President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan and Artsakh Cabinet members in Yerevan.

PM Pashinyan said that the Government of Armenia has always attached importance to informing the Government of Artsakh on the negotiations around the NK conflict, the content and course, challenges and opportunities, and that this principle will be preserved.

“The number one beneficiary of the NK settlement is Artsakh and the people of Artsakh, and therefore any content that would be negotiated and implemented covertly is illogical and it is impossible to imagine such thing,” Pashinyan said.

PM Pashinyan praised President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan’s recent statement that the authorities of Artsakh are also adopting the peace agenda. “The agenda of peace is not an agenda of defeat. The agenda of peace is an agenda of overcoming the disaster of the war and the following difficulties and guaranteeing the security and rights and future of the people. As a result of cruel, difficult work I see the sequence of steps that should lead us to this destination that we are talking about, that being the guarantee of the security and rights of the people of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh,” the PM said.

The PM highlighted that Artsakhis should live in Artsakh, consider themselves Artsakhis and Armenians.

“A huge part of our joint work concerns the socio-economic sector and it is principled for us that people live in Artsakh and feel themselves safe in Artsakh. I am sure that we are on the right track and I am happy that the authorities of Artsakh share this agenda,” Pashinyan said.

 12:40, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Anna Mazmanyan has been relieved from the position of deputy minister of environment.

The respective decision has been signed by the Prime Minister and is posted on .

 13:05, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. The Armenians of Artsakh accept the agenda of peace, but on the other hand they do not see any direction of deviating from the right to self-determination, President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan said during the meeting with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

“Therefore, I want to thank for the view that any topic, any document will be discussed with the Artsakh leadership and will be within the logic of the people. Of course, I want to fix that no other way is possible. We have a long political fight to run. The security component is the most important today”, he said, adding that the stability created by the direct mediation of the Russian peacekeepers today allows to discuss the socio-economic programs.

The President of Artsakh said that the socio-economic programs are important because if there are no people in Artsakh, the political fight and talking about security become nonsense. “That’s why demographics and socio-economic programs today are again relevant. The programs, which have started after the war, continue”, he said.

In his turn Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan considered the fact of infiltration of Azerbaijani units into the area under the responsibility of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh worrying. “We hope that the representatives of the Russian peacekeeping contingent will consistently ensure the withdrawal of Azerbaijani units from the responsibility zone of the peacekeeping forces”, he said.

 14:34, 29 April, 2022

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia will provide an additional 20 billion drams to Artsakh for housing projects given the urgent needs of apartments in Artsakh, State Minister of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan announced after the meeting of Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

“The two main issues on the agenda were Artsakh’s socio-economic condition and the Azerbaijani-Karabakhi conflict settlement process,” he said.

Beglaryan added that an agreement was reached that the Government of Armenia will provide an additional 20 billion drams to Artsakh for housing projects given the urgent needs of apartments in Artsakh.

“Of course, ideas were also exchanged on Artsakh’s security, status and conflict settlement process,” he added.

 15:17, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan received the delegation headed by the Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe Hans Kluge, the Parliament’s press service said.

Alen Simonyan welcomed the cooperation agreement signed yesterday between the Ministry of Health of Armenia and the WHO Regional Office for Europe. The Speaker of Parliament expressed hope that it will contribute to the development of the health system in all directions.

Various assistance provided to Armenia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the fight against the pandemic was touched upon at the meeting.

Both sides highlighted the implementation of the legislative initiatives aimed at health system reforms. The importance of efforts to have access to different health areas and to provide quality services was also stressed.

Minister of Health of Armenia Anahit Avanesyan and Deputy Minister Lena Nanushyan, Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Healthcare, member of Parliament from Civil Contract faction Narek Zeynalyan and deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Arsen Torosyan participated in the meeting.

 15:41, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Due to an increasing flow of investors, the State Registry Office is overloaded and the authorities are enabling law firms to conduct some of the registry’s functions.

The Deputy Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan chaired a meeting with representatives of several law firms on April 29 where they were briefed on the regulations and proceedings.

The functions include the approval of the standard charter and registration of private entrepreneurships.

“Our discussion is on time in order for the lawyers and law firms to be able to further improve their rendered services given the investments flow. I am convinced that the law firms are the most important and primary circle where investors apply,” Minasyan said.

 15:51, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a telephone conversation today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Armenian foreign ministry said in a news release.

The FMs praised the results of the recent official visit of the Armenian Prime Minister to Russia, reaffirmed the commitment of the sides to the provisions of the April 19 joint statement of Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Armenian and Russian FMs also discussed the implementation process of the commitments assumed by the 2020 November 9, 2021 January 11 and November 26 trilateral statements, touched upon the creation of a commission on border demarcation and security issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

FM Mirzoyan reaffirmed the position of Armenia to the processes aimed at establishing regional peace and stability, the negotiations around a comprehensive peace treaty with Azerbaijan.

Minister Mirzoyan approved the proposal of the Russian side to hold Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan foreign ministerial meeting in Dushanbe on May 13 within the framework of the session of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers.

 16:17, 29 April, 2022

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS. Singer, songwriter Vahan Gevorgyan, known by his stage name Forsh, is recovering in a hospital after suffering a mini-stroke, his son Areg Gevorgyan told ARMENPRESS.

“It was a mini-stroke, nothing serious, he will recover without complications,” Areg Gevorgyan said.

Honored Artist of Armenia Forsh is expected to be discharged from hospital over the weekend.