Category: 2022

Locals say 11 Armenians killed in Ukraine since beginning of war

Emil Lazarian
– 15:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – 11 Armenians have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion on February 24, according to local Armenian organizations.

According to the Union of Armenians of Ukraine, 26-year-old Artem Ayvazyan died in Kharkov on March 1. He was a volunteer, helping those in need in his city, delivering food and medicine to them.

Deputy Chairman of the Union David Mkrtchyan has said that among the dead Armenians eight civilians and three soldiers have been killed in Kherson, Chonhar and Mariupol.

Before the war, about 350,000 Armenians lived in Ukraine. However, it is still unknown how many of them have managed to leave the country in the past three weeks. Mkrtchyan said that they are now trying to understand how many Armenians are still in Ukraine, but the country’s border service is overloaded with work

About 4,000 Ukrainian citizens have moved to Armenia since the beginning of the war, Denis Avtonomov, the Ukrainian Chargé d’Affaires in Armenia, was cited as saying on March 18. Avtonomov said that most of them are ethnic Armenians, many have relatives and family here and rarely turn to the Embassy for help. The diplomat added that a certain number of ethnic Ukrainians has also escaped to Armenia.

Artak Zakaryan: We are living through the worst time in history

Jagharian Tania
Panorama
Armenia –

The composition of NATO will be reviewed, and there will be no more unipolar world, Armenia’s former deputy defense minister and a member of the Executive Body of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Artak Zakaryan told reporters on Saturday.

He states the role of China will be emphasized, while the rivalry between Turkey and Iran in the South Caucasus region will further intensify.

“And all this, to a greater or lesser extent, concerns us. As if the problems in the world are not enough, the Armenian authorities are ignorant, conspiratorial and capitulant. We are living through the worst period in history,’ he said.

“From all this we must draw the most important conclusions. We cannot change the world, the world order and adapt it to ourselves, but we must at least put what we have inside in order to be ready for any development: both for the worse and for the better,” Zakaryan noted.

He states the current government should have been changed already because it cannot handle the new challenges facing Armenia, further worsening the situation.

“An incompetent policy can lead to war, the status of an outcast state rejected by Russia and the West, deprived of economic development. We may end up in the last carriage when it comes to food security… This is where they are leading us to,” the politician said.

According to him, Armenia has not solved the issue of its security and the security of Artsakh, there is not even an amended concept of national security.

He highlighted the need for a multi-vector foreign policy, with its primary focus on cooperation with Russia. “We must also realize something very important: Russia needs a partner, not a vassal,” Zakaryan said.

Human rights activist: Armenia and Azerbaijan pursuing ‘agreed policies’

Jirair Kafian
Panorama
Armenia –

The Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities are pursuing “agreed policies” in various spheres, according to Armenia’s former ombudsperson and human rights activist Larisa Alaverdyan.

Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, she underscored that Azerbaijan’s task is to repeatedly create intolerable conditions for the people of Artsakh in order to force them to leave their homeland, which they have defended for centuries.

“I am convinced that the Artsakh people will not go for it. But the price that the Armenian people are now paying is a result of the consistent policy run by the current authorities, which exclusively serves the Turkish-Azerbaijani genocidal plans,” Alaverdyan stated.

In her words, the “political games” played by the authorities are pretty clear to all now.

“The incumbent authorities have no right to announce that they have received the mandate of the people as they are implementing anti-state and anti-national policies,” Alaverdyan said.

Fitch affirms Armenia at ‘B+’ with stable outlook

Mary Lazarian
Panorama
Armenia –

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Armenia’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B+’ with a Stable Outlook, the agency said on Friday.

“Russia accounted for 28% of goods exports, 37% of imports, and 40% of tourism arrivals, foreign direct investment, and remittances for Armenia as of 2021. The immediate impact of sharply higher natural gas prices will be limited, given that Armenia has locked in gas import prices with Russia as of December 2021, for multiple years. Some disruption to trade relationships is likely given the loss of correspondent banking relationships of Russian banks operating in Armenia. Russia’s deep recession and the large depreciation of the Russian rouble will hit Armenian exports,” Fitch said. 

“The headwinds associated with the Ukraine conflict and sanctions on Russia have caused us to revise down our growth projection for 2022 sharply to 1.3% (previously 5.3%), as export growth (particularly to Russia) stalls, and remittances (and hence household consumption) decline. We project growth will return to 4.2% in 2023 (‘B’ median: 3.6%), reflecting favourable domestic investment prospects and an expected positive contribution of net trade,” it noted.

Fitch is one of the top three credit rating agencies internationally, along with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

Vardan Voskanyan: Russia started to counter anti-Russian propaganda machine of Baku dictator

Boshkezenian Garik
Panorama
Armenia –

Russia has started to counter the anti-Russian propaganda of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by blocking Azerbaijani state-run media outlet Haqqin-az in the country, Armenian expert on Iran Vardan Voskanyan said on Friday.

“Russia has begun striking blows against the Baku dictator’s anti-Russian propaganda machine by blocking one of its most infamous Russian-language news websites, Haqqin-az, across the country,” he wrote on Telegram.

“It is no secret that the propaganda tool is directly coordinated and controlled by the Baku dictator’s office and, in fact, spreads the anti-Russian views which the top officials of the Baku ruling regime and its ringleader are afraid to express personally,” Voskanyan said.

The expert states Russia’s move is equal to a “missile strike on the Consulate of the Baku dictatorial regime” in Kharkov.

“But all this will remain only ‘consolation’ for us, unless from today we fix our minds and hearts on the sacred covenant and the program stemming from it, according to which the missiles, the fruit of Armenian just revenge, must inevitably destroy the enemy military infrastructure in order to demilitarize the barbaric Baku regime and the artificial formation ruled by it,” he noted.

State minister: All customers in Artsakh to be supplied with natural gas in next few hours

Emil Lazarian
Panorama
Armenia –

Gas supply to more than half of the customers in Artsakh has now been restored, and natural gas will be delivered to the rest in the next few hours, State Minister Artak Beglaryan said on Saturday.

The repair and checking of the damaged gas pipeline was completed late on Friday, with natural gas delivered to the receiving point of Artsakhgaz CJSC at night.

“The people of Artsakh will now be able to resolve the heating and other problems in the current extremely cold weather conditions,” the minister wrote on Telegram.

“Some 30-40 cm of snow fell in Stepanakert today. The snowfall was even heavier in other settlements of Artsakh, which is unprecedented for March. In such conditions, the population of Artsakh was deprived of natural gas for more than 11 days in a row due to artificial and deliberate obstacles created by Azerbaijan,” Beglaryan said.

Sports: Armenian pair to compete in World Figure Skating Championships

Garo Vardanian
Panorama
Armenia –

SPORT 13:13 19/03/2022 ARMENIA

Armenian figure skating pair Tina Garabedian and Simon Proulx-Senecal are to compete in the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships.

Figure skater Slavik Hayrapetyan will not participate in the tournament due to injury, the Armenian National Olympic Committee reported on Friday.

The championships are set for 21-27 March in Montpellier, France.

Armenia PM in Charentsavan, many police cars block road

Hunanian Jack
NEWS.am
Armenia –
14:50, 19.03.2022

The final round of the Prime Minister’s Cup amateur table tennis tournament is taking place in Charentsavan, Armenia, Saturday.

PM Nikol Pashinyan and several other officials are on hand at the event.

Hraparak.am reported that the event is taking place in the newly built sports school of Charentsavan.

In connection with Pashinyan’s visit, security is beefed up in that area.

Many police cars have blocked the road, and they do not allow people to drive in the direction of the aforesaid sports school.

Oh, Snap! Armenia’s Rosa Linn releases Eurovision 2022 song

Emil Lazarian
wiwibloggs
  • POSTED ONMARCH 19, 2022
  • BYWILLIAM LEE ADAMS

“It’s 4am — I can’t turn my head off, wishing these memories would fade…”

The opening words of Rosa Linn’s “Snap” — her entry for Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

The tender number is genuine and straightforward. Rather than shrieking for attention, Rosa Linn speaks from the heart about getting over an ex.

“Turns out people lie,” she says matter-of-factly. “They said, ‘Just snap your fingers’ as if it was really that easy for me to get over you.”

The chorus seems at once like a meditation and a request to the universe: She reminds herself to breathe through counting, but also tries to expel this person from her heart.

She sings: “I’m snapping one, two, where are you? You’re still in my heart. Snapping three, four, don’t need you here anymore. Get out of my hea-ar-art.” 

The Earthy, folksy quality of the song has shades of The Lumineers and their hit “Ho Hey”. Delivered by a young woman with a big heart, the genre gets a special twist driven by a quiet emotional intensity.

Stripped back and at times almost acoustic, this song deserves sensitive, intimate staging that lets Rosa Linn’s sincerity shine through. Get it right and we’re feeling a sleeper hit. 

The Public TV Company of Armenia selected Rosa Linn through a careful internal selection process. 

The 21-year-old singer, songwriter, and producer was born and raised in Vanadzor, Armenia. She has been fond of music since childhood and started her professional career with the record label “Nvak Collective” — founded by Eurovision 2015 alum and beloved queen Tamar Kaprelian. 

In her own words, Rosa says: “From the outside looking in, the odds seemed like they were against me – an unknown girl from a small town in Armenia. But the power of manifestation is real when it is combined with hard work; persistence; and just putting oneself out there. I’m excited to let people into my inner-world through my music. And I’m beyond honored to be able to represent my beloved country on the biggest stage in Europe.”

In a new press release, AMPTV elaborated on Rosa Linn’s entry. We’re re-printing it in full below.

Rosa Linn, Armenia’s representative at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, has just released her entry song “Snap”, together with the official music video.

Rosa says this song is a journey into her inner world, a personal story everyone can relate to: “I think we’ve all been at a snapping point, where it felt like there’s no way out and that the entire world is just crumbling down around you. You start questioning everything, including yourself. I have been there. And what I realized was that I had the
strength to shape my reality – it just took getting out of my own way and finding inner-peace. It’s all about self-love and accepting that you are enough. Writing “Snap” was a form of therapy for me and I hope that it can be that for others who are also going through hard times.”

“Snap” was written by Rosa Linn, Larzz Principato, Courtney Harrell, Allie Crystal, Tamar Mardirossian Kaprelian. Lyrics by Rosa Linn, Larzz Principato, Courtney Harrell, Allie Crystal, Tamar Mardirossian Kaprelian, Jeremy Dusoulet

https://wiwibloggs.com/2022/03/19/snap-armenias-rosa-linn-releases-eurovision-2022-song/271103/

ALSO READ

https://eurovisionworld.com/esc/armenia-rosa-linn-releases-snap-for-eurovision-2022

https://www.aussievision.net/post/eurovision-2022-armenia-s-song-snap-out-now-in-australia

https://www.escunited.com/armenia-rosa-linn-will-snap-her-moment-in-turin/

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Britain bans RT

Nahapetian Samvel

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 15:33,

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. Britain has banned Russian state TV channel RT, saying it was incapable of providing impartial coverage of the war in Ukraine.

UK broadcast media regulator Ofcom said it had been conducting 29 investigations into RT’s coverage.

“Freedom of _expression_ is something we guard fiercely in this country, and the bar for action on broadcasters is rightly set very high,” Ofcom CEO Melanie Dawes said in a statement. “Following an independent regulatory process, we have today found that RT is not fit and proper to hold a license in the UK. As a result we have revoked RT’s UK broadcasting license.”

RT deputy editor-in-chief Anna Belkina responded by saying that the “supposedly independent British media regulator has proven itself to be a tool of the government.”

With its decision Ofcom “has shown the UK public, and the regulatory community internationally, that despite a well-constructed facade of independence, it is nothing more than a tool of government, bending to its media-suppressing will,” Belkina said.

“By ignoring RT’s completely clean record of four consecutive years and stating purely political reasons tied directly to the situation in Ukraine and yet completely unassociated to RT’s operations, structure, management or editorial output, Ofcom has falsely judged RT to not be ‘fit and proper’ and in doing so robbed the UK public of access to information,” she added.