Category: 2022

 17:42,

YEREVAN, 12 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh was and will be the main guide of the foreign policy of the Government, ARMENPRESS reports the President of the Republic of Artsakh announced at the meeting with heads of administrative districts of Askeran city, heads of communities and local activists, emphasizing that the official Stepanakert will not deviate from that agenda.

“The fact that the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination is not a subject of bargaining is unequivocal. We will not deviate from our path of independence”, said Arayik Harutyunyan.

At the meeting the President of Artsakh talked about the recent geopolitical developments and the actions be carried out in that context. He mentioned that we enter a new difficult phase conditioned by the Russian-Ukrainian military actions.

Arayik Harutyunyan referred to the actions of Azerbaijan, in particular that on March 24 again the provisions of the trilateral agreement of November 9, 2020 were violated and Azerbaijan doesn’t hide its  expansionist aspirations.

“Azerbaijan violated the condition and for the first time questioned the Russian peacekeeping mission.”, the President of Artsakh said.

 18:01,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan introduced the newly appointed Minister Armen Pambukhchyan to the staff of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister wished success to Mr. Pambukhchyan in his important work and expressed hope that during his tenure the efficiency of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will increase.

“Usually, on similar occasions, we appoint a new minister, see off the old minister, thank him for the work done. You know that in this case we have a slightly different, unusual or even unprecedented situation. And I have to tell you honestly and sincerely that I am very sorry for such a development. Personally for me what happened is very painful in terms of both morality and politics. You know that after the 44-day war, I offered Mr. Piloyan the post of Minister of Emergency Situations, I entrusted that post, and we worked during this period in an atmosphere of mutual respect. But I think we must clearly state that finally the rule of law in the Republic of Armenia should not be just words, equality before the law should not be just words, after all, it’s the case now and was that before these events. I hope that we all understand this message very clearly and directly”, the Prime Minister said.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, it is clear that nowhere in the Republic of Armenia there is a very high level of welfare. “Moreover, we are a country that has problems with poverty, social problems, and serious security challenges in general. We must understand that each of us is required to make great efforts, and yes, to go through great deprivations in order to be able to solve the challenges facing our country, to solve the problems in the public administration system, to increase its efficiency, and finally make our service to the people more and more effective. I think this should be today’s main message.

Mr. Pambukhchyan, I wish good luck to you and the entire staff of the Ministry. And I want to say that talking about the rule of law, let’s not forget about the presumption of innocence, because according to the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, any person is innocent until his guilt is confirmed by a verdict that has entered into force. Let’s be guided by this presumption,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

Armen Pambukhchyan thanked the Prime Minister for the great confidence and assured that he will spare no effort and energy to justify the expectations of the PM and the society. “I am not new to this ministry, I am fully aware of all the tasks and priorities. I would like to note that during my tenure I will be guided by the agenda and values adopted by the Government and the political team,” the newly appointed Minister of Emergency Situations said.

Russian MoD reports about ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan and injury of an Armenian soldier

 20:37,

YEREVAN, 12 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. During the past 24 hours, the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh registered one case of violation of the ceasefire by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the Parukh area, as a result of which a serviceman was wounded from the Armenian side, ARMENPRESS reports the Russian Defense Ministry informed.

The command of the peacekeeping contingent, in cooperation with the representatives of both sides, settled the incident.

“Continued cooperation with the General Staffs of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Armed Forces is maintained to ensure the security of Russian peacekeepers and to prevent possible incidents,” the statement said.

 11:21,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan commented on today’s statement made by the opposition Armenia and I have the Honor factions that they are not going to participate in the sessions of the Parliament and are going to visit Armenia’s bordering villages and the Republic of Artsakh.

During today’s session in the Parliament, the Speaker addressed questions to the representatives of the opposition.

“I want to understand, when these persons [opposition MPs] are going to work, when they will justify the salary they receive, when these persons are going to justify the money spent by the state on them?”, the Speaker said.

He accused the opposition in presenting very few legislative initiatives and almost not participating in international visits and meetings.

“The most famous “meeting” was to vote against the report on Armenia’s democracy together with Azerbaijan and Turkey. They haven’t been in any significant, serious meeting after that. There haven’t been proposals to the Prime Minister, to hold a meeting relating to Artsakh or get information about the situation. No, their task is to come here and say that everything is kept secret from them, and thus to avoid all kinds of talks. A combined work with Azerbaijani armed forces. Statement – provocation on border, statement – provocation on border. All this is combined with each other. These are not coincidences. And you must give the answer to this, to your non-attendance to work. In your view, why everyone was here and is making statement and then leaving? In order to press the button that ensures the salaries of the lawmakers”, the Speaker said.

He also asked the opposition MPs why they are not stepping down. The Speaker is confident that they can’t step down.

“Put down your mandates. If you are not working here, what do you do here then? Why do you come here, why do you receive salaries? Why this money is provided to you in order to ensure materials for your websites? No one reads your websites, the TV channels as well, except a small part of your voters. No one watches them. Find yourself”, Speaker Alen Simonyan said.

He once again claimed that, unfortunately, the activity of Armenia’s opposition today has one direction, and that direction is the actions combined with the Azerbaijani provocations.

“The Armenian opposition has no other political agenda”, the Speaker said.

 11:30,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. France reaffirms its full commitment to the establishment of peace and stability in the South Caucasus region both on a bilateral basis and as President of the Council of the European Union and Co-Chair of the Minsk Group, the French Foreign Ministry said, when asked to comment on what is its position over the future of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“France reaffirms its full commitment to the establishment of peace and stability in the South Caucasus region both on a bilateral basis and as President of the Council of the European Union and Co-Chair of the Minsk Group.

France continues to work with Armenia and Azerbaijan in this capacity, so that progress is ensured in humanitarian issues, and continues supporting the works aimed at the delimitation of borders, the process on eliminating the isolation of the region, the preservation of heritage, the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries and the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. For that purpose, at the initiative of the President of the Republic, a meeting in a video conference mode was organized on February 4 with the Prime Minister of Armenia, the President of Azerbaijan and the President of the European Council.

The French Co-Chair of the Minsk Group is in Yerevan these days on a working visit”, the statement says.

 11:32,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. On April 12, President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan held a meeting in Askeran with responsible officials of the region, community heads and local residents, his Office said.

A range of issues related to the military-political situation in the republic, security-related as well as socio-economic problems were on the discussion agenda.

The Head of the State referred to the imperative of ensuring food security and employment in the current geopolitical conditions, emphasizing the need to make consistent efforts to intensify agricultural work, to efficiently use uncultivated lands and all possible economic resources in general.

President Harutyunyan listened to the concerns and opinions of the residents, gave instructions to the responsible officials on the tasks to be done.

 12:06,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. Nokia will stop activities on the territory of the Russian Federation over Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, TASS reports citing statement of the Finnish producer of telecommunication equipment.

“It has been clear for Nokia <...> that continuing our presence in Russia would not be possible”, the company said. “We can now announce we will exit the Russian market”, according to the statement.

The company also emphasized the importance of ensuring the continued flow of information and access to the internet on Russian soil. “As we exit [the Russian market] we will aim to provide the necessary support to maintain the networks and are applying for the relevant licenses to enable this support in compliance with current sanctions”, Nokia said.

Over the last weeks the company has suspended deliveries of equipment to Russia.

 12:30,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. During today’s session in the Parliament, Deputy Minister of Economy of Armenia Rafayel Gevorgyan presented the draft on ratifying the 2020 financial cooperation agreement between the Armenian and German governments.

Gevorgyan said that Armenia will be provided with 116 million 400 thousand Euro financial aid.

“This assistance consists of two main parts. 70 million Euros will be provided for the development of small and medium enterprises, and 40 million to development loans in renewable energy sector. The mechanism through which that assistance will be provided is the country’s banking system. There is an Armenian-German fund through which the sums will be distributed to Armenia’s banking system”, the deputy minister said.

He informed that it is also planned to provide 3.4 million Euro financial aid to Armenia for implementation of biodiversity and sustainable development programs and to provide 3.4 million Euro financial aid for the necessary measures aimed at the implementation and technical support of the program.

 12:39,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia approved N283 decision on March 10, 2022, according to which the implementation of the housing program for families, who have been forcefully displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992 and live in temporary shelters, will launch in the provinces of Armenia, the Migration Service told Armenpress.

According to a study conducted in 2013, 254 families in provinces are considered to be the potential beneficiaries of the program. Currently, the process of re-registration of potential beneficiaries living in provinces is underway. The representatives of the Migration Services and the Governorates visited the refugee families registered in the temporary shelters in Armavir and Aragatsotn provinces. Since March, the re-registration is carried out in Ararat province and will also be conducted in Kotayk from April.

There are potential beneficiary families in all provinces of Armenia, mostly in Ararat, Kotayk and then Armavir. The registration process will be followed by the stage of notifying the potential beneficiaries about the program. After being notified, the refugee must submit the required documents and application to the Migration Service within a month. The inter-agency commission examines the submitted cases and whether the potential beneficiary is in accordance with the program criteria or not. If approved, the apartment purchase certificate to be provided is valid for a year. 1.4 billion drams have been allocated for conducting the 4^th phase.

It is reported that 453 potential beneficiaries have been registered within the frames of the program implementation in Yerevan, and they have been notified about the participation to the program.

362 applications for participation to the program were received from these beneficiaries. As a result of discussions, 270 families received house purchase certificates. House purchase certificates worth 3.7 billion drams (budget allocation – 5.8 billion drams) have been actually provided as a result of the implementation of the program in Yerevan only. 187 out of the families, who received the certificates, used them and purchased apartments /actual spending was 2.5 billion drams/. The house purchase process for the beneficiaries of 2^nd and 3^rd phases continues.