Category: 2022

 10:43, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian parliament unanimously approved the bill by ruling Civil Contract party MP Hayk Sargsyan seeking to expand the military’s family survivor benefit beneficiaries.

The Insurance Foundation of Servicemen pays compensations to family members of servicemembers of the Armed Forces who die or go missing while in service. By the new law, if the servicemember doesn’t have parents, a spouse or children, then their sister, brother or grandparents are eligible to receive the compensation.

The bill passed with 92 votes in favor, 0 against.

Moreover, if a servicemember was factually in “marital relations” but didn’t have a marriage certificate, then the person with whom the servicemember was in these relations is eligible for the compensation.

 10:47, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Judge Rubik Mkhitaryan of the Criminal Court of Appeals denied bail to the Mayor of Goris Arush Arushanyan who is currently in pre-trial detention on charges of vote buying.

Arushanyan vehemently denies wrongdoing.

Law enforcement agencies say he allegedly committed the crime when he was running for parliament in the 2021 election with the Hayastan alliance.

 11:10, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. 2811 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, the ministry of health reported.

The total number of confirmed cases in the country has reached 396,885.

The COVID-19 recoveries rose by 3291 in a day, bringing the total to 359,456.

The death toll has risen to 8108 (6 death cases in past day).

7297 COVID-19 tests were conducted on February 8. 

The number of active cases is 27,762.

 11:25, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed the normalization process of the relations between Armenia and Turkey during a telephone conversation on February 8, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

Blinken and Cavusoglu discussed also the additional steps the United States could take to support these efforts.

 11:58, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan sent a congratulatory telegram to his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Iran. 

FM Mirzoyan said in the message that the Armenian-Iranian relations are marked with close and firm cooperation anchored on mutual respect and many centuries of history molded in difficult and hard paths of different trials, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

The Armenian FM expressed conviction that through effective partnership the friendly relations of the two countries will be further strengthened for the benefit of the welfare of the peoples of the two countries and lasting peace in the region.

Beijing Olympics: Figure skating medals ceremony delayed over ‘legal consultation’

 12:40, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. The Beijing Olympics medal ceremony for the figure skating team event that was won by Russian skaters has been delayed due to an unspecified “legal consultation”, Reuters reported citing the International Olympic Committee.

There were no details given on the reasons for the delay.

It had initially been moved to Tuesday evening from Monday before being postponed indefinitely.

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team claimed the gold medal on Monday with Kamila Valieva landing the first quadruple jumps by a woman in Olympic competition. The United States took silver and Japan bronze.

“A situation arose at short notice that requires legal consultation,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said, without providing any details on the nature of the ongoing consultation.

“You can bet your bottom dollar we are doing everything that this situation can be resolved as soon as possible.

“I cannot give you any more details but we will do our utmost.”

Adams said the ceremony would take place as soon as possible.

 13:14, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. NATO’s military build-up on the territory of neighboring countries creates threats to Belarus and Russia and impacts security of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said at the Valdai International Discussion Club, reports TASS.

“NATO is substantially building up its forces on the western borders of the zone of the CSTO’s responsibility and developing military infrastructure on adjacent territories”, the CSTO chief said at the Valdai Club’s conference titled: “Collective Security in a New Era: the CSTO’s Experience and Prospects.”

“Military activity is increasing and militarization of the whole region is actually underway. This creates threats not only to Belarus and Russia but adversely affects the provision of security of our entire organization, the CSTO,” Zas said. “I have the audacity to state this on behalf of the entire organization because this is what is written in the CSTO’s development strategy through 2025,”, the post-Soviet security bloc’s chief said.

 13:16, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Actor Ruben Karapetyan died from COVID-19 complications, the H. Ghaplanyan Drama Theater’s Artistic Director Armen Khandikyan told ARMENPRESS.

Karapetyan was 74 years old.

Aside from a number of appearances in film, he was an actor at the H. Ghaplanyan Drama Theater since 1972.

He was bestowed with the Merited Artist of Armenia title in 2004.

 14:14, 9 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport has offered the owner of the carpet collection from the Shushi Carpet Museum to display the collection at the best available museums in Armenia.

When asked to clarify, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Ara Khzmalyan told MP Elinar Vardanyan in parliament that the ministry is now working with the owner of the collection.

Around 170 carpets were saved from the museum when Shushi was under heavy Azeri bombardment during the 2020 war before its fall.

The carpets were temporarily stored at the National Museum-Institute of Architecture in Yerevan, but the administration of the institute notified the ministry officials that the carpets must be moved elsewhere.

Khzmalyan said he’s met several times with the collection’s owner.

“We have the following picture: we have a policy of bringing together values, not allocating a new building for each value, because when the exhibits on display are rich and various there are more visitors. Realizing the necessity for displaying these carpets, its political importance, we offered to organize the display in the best, modern museums. Take into consideration that this is a private collection. I think there isn’t anything better to offer today. Otherwise we’ll have to build a new museum, perhaps this could be discussed, I don’t know,” Khzmalyan said.