Category: 2022

 17:30,

YEREVAN, 28 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 28 February, USD exchange rate up by 1.80 drams to 483.92 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.91 drams to 540.97 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.99 drams to 4.79 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 2.31 drams to 647.29 drams.

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

Gold price down by 689.20 drams to 29324.45 drams. Silver price down by 15.73 drams to 376.67 drams. Platinum price down by 651.97 drams to 16414.1 drams.

 17:35,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. Russia has closed its airspace to carriers from 36 nations, including European countries and Canada, responding in kind to their move to close their respective airspaces to all Russian aircraft, AP reports.

The move, announced Monday by the state aviation agency, follows a decision by the EU and Canada over the weekend to close their skies to the Russian planes due to the situation in Ukraine.

It added that planes from those countries could only enter Russia’s airspace with special permission.

Those countries include Austria, Albania, England, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, UK, Hungary, Germany, Gibraltar, Jersey, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, France, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia.

 18:31,

YEREVAN, 28 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. On February 28, the High-level Segment of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council was held in Geneva, chaired by the Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Council, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva Andranik Hovhannisyan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia. During the session, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan delivered remarks, in which he particularly noted;

“Distinguished colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a particular pleasure for me to greet you, Mr. Vice-President, as you chair this session of the Council. I would also like to congratulate all members of the Bureau under the able leadership of Federico Villegas, the President of the Council. 

The Human Rights Council is one of the key achievements of multilateral diplomacy as it provides an indispensable platform for sustaining and promoting dialogue on human rights irrespective of various international and regional crises. This Council has been envisaged to stand for all and everyone in all times. It is the inherent dignity of human beings that we have at stake here. With so many existing and evolving crises all over the world, the human rights of people in the situation of conflicts should be of particular focus of the Human Rights Council and its special procedures. 

It is with these vision and objectives that Armenia has entered the third year of its fully-fledged membership of the Council. I believe that we have been able to prove ourselves as a trustworthy and reliable partner in reacting to and addressing the outlying thematic issues and critical country situations. We are determined to continue our contribution in a most constructive and positive manner. 

In this context I am glad to announce that Armenia intends to table anew the draft resolution on the Prevention of genocide at this session of the Council. That is a subject that Armenia has been championing for many years. Our team in Geneva is going to organize a transparent process of consultations with all interested States and other stakeholders. 

After the difficulties and political crisis after the 44-day war launched by Azerbaijan snap-parliamentary elections were held, where people of Armenia reconfirmed their commitments and devotion to the values of democracy and human rights. The international observers of the snap parliamentary elections assessed that they passed in compliance with the human rights commitments and democratic standards. Most recently in this year’s Democracy Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit Armenia was ranked as a leader of the region based on such findings as electoral process and pluralism, functioning of the government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

Mr. Vice-President,

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s membership to the United Nations. I hereby reiterate my nation’s unwavering commitment to multilateralism with the United Nations at its core, and our full adherence to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. 

It was no coincidence that the opening line of the United Nations Charter referred to “We the peoples” as the source of its legitimacy. People and their rights must be placed at the forefront and center of everything done by the United Nations as a whole. The right to self-determination has been one of the main purposes of the United Nations and use of force against this right can trigger an entire chain of human rights violations including mass atrocities and ethnic cleansing. This is something we observe during and after the war initiated by Azerbaijan against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.

The UN and its bodies have been bestowed with a universal mandate to enjoy unconditional, unimpeded, unhindered access to the people in need, wherever they are and in all circumstances. We call upon the international community to assume responsibility for ensuring unconditional access to the whole territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The UN Special Procedure Mandate Holders issued several communications to Azerbaijan raising questions with regard to the use of mercenaries, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, destruction of religious and cultural heritage in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan declined to give a proper response and in fact failed to answer to the last communications at all, in a sheer defiance to the UN Human rights machinery. 

The impunity leads to new violations. Apart from Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan continues its policy of human rights abuses now on the borderline areas of the Republic of Armenia, wherein the civilian population suffers from constant provocative actions of armed forces of Azerbaijan. This aggressive policy is accompanied by the overt violations of international humanitarian law. After 16 months of ceasefire in place Azerbaijan continues to hold 38 Armenian prisoners of war, including civilians, while the fate of hundreds of missing persons and dozen cases of enforced disappearances remain unclarified.

Mr. Vice-President,

The plight of people to whom the UN does not have access should not be forgotten. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh should not be discriminated because of their origin, language, religion, political or other opinion, national origin or other status. We strive to achieve the safe, dignified and voluntary return of the Armenians to their ancestral homes in all parts of Nagorno-Karabakh 

The provisional measures put forward by the International Court of Justice on December 7, 2021 which instructs Azerbaijan to cease racist and discriminatory policies against Armenians including destruction and vandalism of the Armenian cultural heritage should be unconditionally implemented. These measures come to prove the Anti-Armenian policies of Azerbaijan including its bellicose rhetoric, depriving the people of their means of subsistence, constantly terrorizing Armenian population and threatening with new use of force. 

Only by urgently addressing these issues will we be able to ensure stability, peace, justice and protection of universal human rights in our region. 

I thank you.”

 18:53,

YEREVAN, 28 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. Today, Deputy Prime Minister Hambardzum Matevosyan received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to Armenia Inga Stanytė-Toločkienė, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The Deputy Prime Minister praised the close cooperation with Lithuania in various fields, at the same time emphasizing that there is considerable untapped potential in almost all directions. In this context, the need to develop cooperation with Lithuania within the framework of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement was highlighted.

During the meeting, the sides also touched upon the work of the Armenian-Lithuanian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, as well as other issues of mutual importance.

 19:07,

 YEREVAN, 28 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. , ARMENPRESS reports, Mikhail Podolyak, Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine, wrote about this on his Twitter microblog.

“Negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations continue. The third round will start in a few minutes,” he wrote.

Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have started in the Gomel region of Belarus. The Russian side arrived in Belarus on February 27. The Ukrainian delegation arrived by military helicopters two hours before the start of the talks.

 19:21,

YEREVAN, 28 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. The President of France Emmanuel Macron and the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation, ARMENPRESS reports, TASS writes, citing Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Earlier, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that French President Emmanuel Macron will receive German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the Elysee Palace on February 28 to discuss the issue of the European economic sovereignty over the situation in Ukraine.

 20:39,

YEREVAN, 28 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. The talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in the Gomel region of Belarus have ended, Mikhail Podolyak, Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine, told reporters.

“The delegations of Ukraine and Russia held talks today, the main purpose of which was to discuss the cessation of military operations in Ukraine. The parties clarified a number of priority issues, in the direction of which some understanding was noted. In order for them to have the opportunity for practical implementation, the parties go to their capitals for consultations,” said Michael Podolyak, reports ARMENPRESS.

He informed that the parties discussed the possibility of holding the next meeting in the near future, during which the above-mentioned issues will be specified.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs Ukraine’s application for EU membership

 20:57,

YEREVAN, 28 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed an application to join the European Union, ARMENPRESS reports, citing TASS, the press service of the “Servant of the People” Ukrainian party reported on February 28.

“Zelenskyy has signed an application for Ukraine to join the European Union. It’s a historic moment,” the statement said.

The party also published the text of the accompanying letter signed by the president. “In this letter, Ukraine, as a European state that respects the values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, has the honor of applying for EU membership in accordance with Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union.”

The letter was sent to the President of France Emmanuel Macron, whose country holds the presidency of the EU Council, as well as the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.