11:06, 22 February, 2022
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. 753 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Armenia in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total number of confirmed cases to 416,510, the Ministry of Healthcare reported.
16 people died from COVID-19 complications, bringing the total death toll to 8354.
5588 tests were conducted on February 21.
2075 people recovered (total 394,155).
As of February 22, the number of active cases stands at 12,408.
12:36, 22 February, 2022
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Artsakh Artur Tovmasyan welcomed the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
“We believe that this recognition will serve a base for ensuring the defense and security guarantees of DPR and LPR residents and strengthening international peace and regional stability.
We congratulate the people of Donbass on the legal-political recognition of the self-determination of the two republics”, the Artsakh Parliament Speaker said in a statement.
On February 21 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced about the recognition of sovereignty of Donetsk and Lugansk. Putin made this statement while addressing the people of Russia. Following the address, the Russian President signed the decrees recognizing the independence of Lugansk and Donetsk, as well as the agreements on friendship and mutual assistance with the leaders of Donetsk and Lugansk.
12:45, 22 February, 2022
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan is taking part in the opening ceremony of the first social-psychological support center in the town of Martuni.
The center will provide social and psychological services to the socially vulnerable groups, Beglaryan said on social media.
He informed that the program has been implemented by the efforts of the government and different organizations.
12:54, 22 February, 2022
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Security in the South Caucasus topic was included in the agenda of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy, within the frames of which the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was discussed, Head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation at the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Maria Karapetyan told reporters at a briefing today.
“This morning the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was also discussed. Experts joined us online. The Armenian expert was in attendance, and one expert from Azerbaijan joined online. After that the Armenian lawmakers, almost the whole delegation, and the Azerbaijani lawmakers, exchanged views.
Our European partners expressed their positions. Here I would like to highlight the position of European Parliament’s representative in the South Caucasus Marina Kaljurand. Today she once again reaffirmed that war is not a means of resolving a conflict and that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict still must get its complete, comprehensive, negotiated and peaceful solution”, Karapetyan said.
13:03, 22 February, 2022
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The issue of returning Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan was raised during the discussion of the topic on the security in the South Caucasus at the meeting of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy in Yerevan, Head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation at the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Maria Karapetyan told reporters at a briefing today.
Asked whether this issue, or a resolution or any kind of decision relating to the Armenian POWs are expected on the sidelines of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, the lawmaker said: “The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly doesn’t suppose such a format, but, of course, the lawmakers raised that issue during the debate on the topic of the security in the South Caucasus. In general, the sessions of these committees conduct a preliminary debate of drafts similar to our parliament. The resolutions of the political, energy, security and social committees are still in the form of drafts, they are currently being debated, but I would like to note that they do not have a context of conflict”, she said.
13:30, 22 February, 2022
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The European Union should give an unequivocal and targeted assessment to Azerbaijan and Turkey, Member of Parliament of Armenia from the opposition “Armenia” faction Anna Grigoryan said in her remarks at the joint meeting of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’s Committees in Yerevan.
“The security challenges continue to be maintained in our region, whereas Azerbaijan thinks that the conflict could be solved by war. About 2 years ago Azerbaijan decided that it can solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict with the use of force, which itself is a violation of the fundamental principles guaranteed by the UN and the Helsinki Final Act. The war led to disasters, but didn’t solve the conflict, the conflict still exists. Hostility, the spread of Armenophobia and the conflict distorted the prospect of peace agreement in the region”, she said.
She addressed a question on how one can go to a political dialogue with Azerbaijan when the Armenian prisoners of war and captured civilians are still held in Azerbaijan, by facing an inhuman treatment daily, when Azerbaijan committed violence, bloodshed and destructs the Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh.
“How can we talk about security when the threat of using force, the propaganda of cynicism, militaristic rhetoric and xenophobia continue from Azerbaijan every day? Moreover, right now the Azerbaijani armed forces continue their occupation in Armenia’s sovereign territory, in Syunik. Due to this policy of Azerbaijan, it becomes difficult to think about a security environment in our region”, the Armenian lawmaker said.
Addressing her colleagues, Anna Grigoryan said the deep silence and Europe’s indifference make all these more difficult.
“If the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh and fully supported by Turkey was not a red line for applying sanctions against war criminal Aliyev and his regime, if the capturing and torturing of our soldiers is not a red line, then I should ask – whether we support the political dialogue or the policy of aggression? If we choose the political dialogue, security and not aggression, terrorism and xenophobia, then the EU must give a definite targeted political assessment to Azerbaijan and Turkey, the double standards, the selective approaches must be rejected if we really want to achieve security in our region”, the Armenian MP said.
PanARMENIAN.Net – The recognition of Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk are not on the table, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan said on Wednesday, February 23.
When asked by Armenpress whether he considers the recognition of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk by Armenia possible, Hunanyan said “there is no such issue on the agenda.”
The spokesperson also said that Yerevan wants issues between “the two friendly states” – Russia and Ukraine – to be resolved through diplomatic dialogue, negotiations, and in accordance with the norms and principles of international law and the UN Charter.
“We hope for the necessary steps to be undertaken towards reducing the tension and resolving the situation peacefully,” he added.
Western allies imposed economic sanctions on Russia after President Vladimir Putin recognized the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent states.
PanARMENIAN.Net – The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has shared a statement on Russia and Azerbaijan’s signing of a declaration of allied cooperation, maintaining that “when your only ally becomes the ally of your enemy, it is, first of all, the result of your own weakness and the mistakes you have made.”
“The global geopolitical shifts, as a result of which the catastrophic seizure of power took place in Armenia in April-May 2018, continue,” the RPA said in a statement on Wednesday, February 23.
“As a result of that seizure of power, the Armenian-Russian strategic allied relations, which are one of the most important components of the security systems of Armenia and Artsakh, were subsequently disrupted.”
The RPA, which was at the helm of the country between 2008 and 2018, said that Armenia lost its initiative and the opportunities to expand and strengthen its sovereignty due to the negligent foreign policy pursued since May 2018.
“With the recent Artsakh war, Armenia lost its position as an influential player in the South Caucasus,” the statement said.
“Unfortunately, the foreign policy pursued by the Armenian authorities has not been perceptible, comparable, harmonized with the regional interests of the strategic ally, as a result of which new manifestations of concern to the Armenian people have been registered.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev are expected to sign a declaration on allied cooperation in Moscow February 22. Putin described the document as a new stage in the development of relations between the two countries, which he said became possible, “including after the progress in the resolution of the Karabakh issue, which has not yet been fully resolved in general.”