Category: 2022

 16:27,

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Italy exchanged messages on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Italian Republic, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

In his message Ararat Mirzoyan, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia, particularly emphasized the fact that the Armenian-Italian cooperation is characterized by a high-level political dialogue. He commended the growing bilateral trade turnover, as well as the volume of Italian investments in Armenia. Minister Mirzoyan expressed determination in bringing bilateral economic relations to the level of political dialogue.

Congratulating the Armenian counterpart, Luigi Di Mayo, the Foreign Minister of Italy, in his turn noted that since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the Armenian-Italian friendly relations and political dialogue have been developing and strengthening, as evidenced by the high-level reciprocal visits. He added that the friendly relations between Armenia and Italy establish stable trade-economic and cultural ties, which are complemented by the existing cooperation in various spheres.

 16:33,

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. The Human Rights Ombudsman’s Staff of Artsakh has published a trilingual (Armenian, Russian, English) interim report on “The Violations of the Rights of the People of Artsakh by Azerbaijan in February – March, 2022”, which was sent to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, organizations with a primary human rights protection mandate and international human rights organizations, the Ombudsman’s Office said in a press release.

The report briefs on the violations committed by Azerbaijan against the life, health, physical and psychological integrity of the people of Artsakh after the adoption of the trilateral statement on November 9, 2020.

The first section presents facts about the Azerbaijani criminal actions in the direction of the border settlements of the Republic of Artsakh in February – March, 2022. From March 7 to 12, 2022, the Azerbaijani side used a 60 mm grenade launcher, a total of 57 shells were fired at various regions of Artsakh. During that time, the ceasefire regime was continuously violated by firearms targeting residential houses and other civilian infrastructures. One civilian was injured.   

The second section presents the humanitarian consequences of the disruption of gas supply by Azerbaijan in the territory of Artsakh. 65% of the schools in the country where 60% of the total number of students receive education are heated with gas. Due to the lack of proper heating, classes in all secondary schools have been suspended. The attendance of children in kindergartens is 22%. 12 kindergartens have ceased their activities at all, and some of them are working for a half day.90% of secondary vocational education institutions, art schools, medical and music collages, children’s creative centers heated by the use of gas which have completely ceased their activities.

70% of health organizations and hospitals are heated by the use of gas, where 419 citizens are currently receiving inpatient treatment, including 46 children in the children’s hospital, and 51 newborns and mothers in the maternity hospital. Hundreds of entrepreneurs also suffer great losses as a result of the gas supply disruption. Gas stations were particularly hard-hit causing personnel downtime, greenhouses operating with gas supply were also affected.

The third section presents the manifestations of psychological terrorism and information attacks carried out by Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh which are aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear, despair among the civilian population under the threat of use of force and compelling the people to leave their homes.

The report was prepared on the basis of studies conducted by the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Staff, visits to various communities, educational and health institutions, settlements, private conversations with citizens, as well as information received from state authorized bodies. The report aims to document the cases of violations of rights of the people of Artsakh by Azerbaijan and their various manifestations, to draw the attention of international structures and human rights organizations to the situation in Artsakh.

The report is available at the following link: 

 16:56,

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan will depart for Berlin on a tow-day visit on March 21, his Office said in a statement.

Armen Grigoryan is scheduled to meet with Jens Plötner, the foreign and security policy adviser to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

During the visit the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia will also have several working meetings.

 17:24,

YEREVAN, 18 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 18 March, USD exchange rate down by 1.89 drams to 488.60 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.57 drams to 539.32 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.14 drams to 4.79 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 5.32 drams to 641.34 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 456.34 drams to 30626.77 drams. Silver price up by 4.69 drams to 398.06 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.

 18:06,

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. The repair works of the damaged gas pipeline in Artsakh have been completed, the Artsakh Information Headquarters informed ARMENPRESS, adding that taking into account the fact that the gas pipeline did not operate for 10 days, a number of technical works are being carried out to ensure the proper, uninterrupted transportation and supply of gas to the distribution networks.

“After completing the mentioned works, the gas supply will be restored”, says the statement.

 18:16,
YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. The Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Varuzhan Nersesyan gave an interview to the British Times Radio. ARMENPRESS presents the interview below.

Host: Now we’re all getting used to seeing the map of the Ukraine, it lies north of the Black Sea, pull the zoom out a bit and look south east and you’ll see Armenia and Azerbaijan. These two countries have long been in conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian troops have kept the peace and thousands are stationed in Armenia but some say that Armenia suffers from Stockholm syndrome about Russia, it has to love the Russian forces that in fact keep it captive. Let’s speak to Varuzhan Nersesyan who is the Armenian Ambassador to the UK. Good morning to you.

Ambassador: Good morning and I’d like to welcome all of the listeners to your radio station.

Host: Welcome. I think it’s fair to say there will be some people who are aware of what’s gone on in Armenia and Azerbaijan, specifically we are talking about Armenia, but some people will not. Can you just explain how the war has effected tensions that may already have existed in Armenia?

Ambassador: Absolutely, thank you very much for your question and of course Armenia is located in a very vulnerable geo-political location in the South Caucasus. Already, before the crisis in Ukraine Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh suffered immensely, from the aggression, from the war that was perpetrated by a neighbouring country in September 2020.

The current crisis in Ukraine has been used to escalate the situation as we have seen, because the attention of the international community is focused currently on Ukraine. We have seen certain attempts by Azerbaijan to escalate the situation, particularly in Nagorno-Karabakh. The population has been harassed and threatened by the Azerbaijani government. There have been many attempts to create constant provocation at the line of contact and violations of the ceasefire. Not only that but a psychological warfare is being conducted against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, particularly the Azerbaijani side brings loudspeakers and harasses the local population, threatening them to leave their own villages, their own homeland, and their ancestral land. Threatening to use force unless they abide by these threats and leave their homes. Aside from this, unfortunately, the Azerbaijani has exploded a gas pipe line leading to Nagorno-Karabakh and not allowing specialists to actually enter that area and restore the gas pipeline, and because of this the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh is deprived of gas and energy supply and are on the brink of a serious humanitarian crisis.

Host: And were the Russian troops invited to help, to keep the peace?

Ambassador: Well, the Russian troops, these are not troops. These are Russian peacekeeping forces that are deployed there in accordance to November 9 and 10 ceasefire statement agreed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation and the Russian peacekeeping force at the time was able to stop the bloodshed in November 2020 after they entered the area, after the ceasefire. They are currently, yes, in that area and thanks to them the peace is being maintained in that area.

Host: Of course, and I understand you have your own concerns within your country. You’ve talked about this intimidation, you’ve spoken about the gas pipeline but you’ve also spoken about the bloodshed. Now, Russia is currently responsible for a huge amount of bloodshed of children and civilians in Ukraine. Does that make your links with Russia, your reliance on Russian peace keeping troops, as you call them, less palatable, more difficult?

Ambassador: Well of course we are very much concerned about the current crisis in Ukraine as we have centuries’ old relationship with both countries. With the Russian people and the Ukrainian people, we have old bonds of friendship and close relations. Aside from that, of course, we have large Armenian communities in Ukraine, around half a million in Ukraine and 2 million in the Russian Federation. So, already we are receiving hundreds, if not thousands of groups of people who seek refuge in Armenia. Not only Armenians but people of the Russian origin, of the Ukrainian origin, they come to Armenia and are seeking refuge.

 We are already in one or another way affected and of course we want this crisis to be ended as soon as possible and we hope that the negotiations that have been carried out by both sides will succeed and will lead…

Host: Well I was going to say to you that Russia says it was a military operation, the international community says it’s an invasion. What do you think it is?

Ambassador: Well as I said we maintain very close relations between both countries. We are not in a position to bring an evaluation. Our government is completely neutral in this endeavour and situation. As I said our position as soon as possible is to help them, both sides to achieve peace. At this stage the most important thing is not to create evaluations but is to stop the bloodshed. That’s the most important task for all sides involved. Be it Armenia, be it the international community be it the Russian Federation or Ukraine. The most important task is to stop the bloodshed and then to address the situation and then to find solutions because this suffering is for everybody. The international community is so much interlinked and intertwined, this suffering cannot only be localised.

Host: Okay.

Ambassador: When Armenia was subjected to aggression and Nagorno-Karabakh was subjected to aggression by Azerbaijan, and, by the way, also Turkey, we were expecting the world to react in a vigorous way. So, we know what is like when a population, when a civilian population is under bombardment.

Host: Of course, Varuzhan, let me just ask you one final question because I understand you say you have to remain neutral. A lot of people won’t understand that but some people will because of your geo-political situation. You say the bloodshed needs to end, there needs to be a solution. What do you think that solution might be?

Ambassador: Well first of all it’s up to the two countries to have a common vision about the future, it’s about Russia and Ukraine to find out a common solution. These nations share a common history. It’s really painful to watch what’s going on. It’s really painful to watch what’s going on, they share a common history, common traditions and it’s very-very painful. It’s first of all up to the two countries to find a mutually equitable solution, so they are satisfied and create a common future for them.

Host: Okay.

 18:25,

YEREVAN, 18 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The number of refugees from Ukraine since February 24 is 3.2 million, 185 thousand of which crossed the border of Russia, ARMENPRESS reports citing “RIA Novosti”, UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo informed.

2 million people crossed the border of Poland.

Officials from the International Organization of Migration inform that 162 thousand who have left Ukraine Ukraine are foreigners.

 19:40,

YEREVAN, 18 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Political consultations were held between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on March 18 in The Hague, co-chaired by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan and Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for Political Affairs Thijs van der Plas.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, the sides expressed satisfaction over the high level of political dialogue between Armenia and the Netherlands at different levels, the interlocutors discussed a broad scope of issues on the Armenian-Dutch bilateral agenda. Regarding trade and economic cooperation, the interlocutors noted the positive dynamics observed in recent years and outlined the steps that need to be taken to fully realize the existing potential.

The parties touched upon the events to be organized on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and the Netherlands.

The parties discussed the agenda of the Armenia-EU partnership, exchanged views on a number of issues of mutual interest on the international and regional agenda, as well as discussed cooperation and mutual support within the framework of international organizations.

The interlocutors also touched upon the current situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In this context, the parties stressed the importance of the full resumption of the Karabakh peace process under the auspices of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group. The Armenian side expressed gratitude for the support and firm position of the Dutch Parliament during and after the Azerbaijani aggression unleashed against Artsakh, as well as for raising the issue by the government on bilateral and multilateral platforms, emphasizing the need to continue this approach, taking into account the current geopolitical developments.

During his visit to The Hague, Deputy Minister Hovhannisyan met with representatives of the political parties of the Netherlands and civil society activists, and also took part in a diplomatic reception dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and the Netherlands. During the reception, a number of persons were awarded for their significant contribution to the deepening of bilateral cooperation between Armenia and the Netherlands.

 20:14,

YEREVAN, 18 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had a telephone conversation with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on March 18.

Ararat Mirzoyan and Jean-Yves Le Drian exchanged views on the issues on the agenda of the Armenian-French cooperation, in particular, touched upon the implementation of the roadmap for the Armenian-French economic cooperation.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, the interlocutors discussed a number of issues related to regional and international security. Ararat Mirzoyan presented to his French counterpart the situation in the border zone with Armenia and in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by the ceasefire violations, attacks on the civilian population and psychological pressure.

During the conversation, the parties discussed issues related to the start of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on a peace treaty based on the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Helsinki Final Act. In this context, the parties stressed the important role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

 20:21,

YEREVAN, 18 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Moscow and Kyiv are halfway to demilitarizing Ukraine as part of the ongoing negotiation process, ARMENPRESS reports, citing TASS agency, the head of the Russian delegation, assistant to the Russian President Vladimir Medinsky said.

According to Medinsky, the negotiating position of the parties on such issues as the demilitarization of Ukraine can be assessed differently. “As for demilitarization, I would say 50/50. The fact is that I am not authorized to publish the details of the negotiations, I will not do it, neither concrete numbers, nor arguments of the negotiating parties, but in this regard we are somewhere in the middle of the road,” he told reporters.