Category: News

Of course, Rubio’s visit to Yerevan had several features that are worth paying attention to. However, it was not only that he did not meet the Prime Minister of Armenia. In this analysis, I would like to focus a little on the documents that were signed.

Minerals. The US and China are in serious competition over minerals, especially critical minerals. Washington’s main goals in this area are to reduce its own dependence on Chinese supplies and at the same time establish influence in resource-rich countries in the mining sector. For this purpose, the USA has signed similar agreements with Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia, Kazakhstan and dozens of other countries. By the way, one of the justifications for US aspirations towards Greenland is its mineral wealth, which the Trump administration has repeatedly talked about.

Classification of strategic partnerships. From the point of view of strategic relations, it is important to understand that the US classifies diplomatic relations with different countries as follows:

• Allied relations (UK, Canada),

• Strategic partnership (Vietnam, Kazakhstan),

• Comprehensive strategic partnership (India);

• Comprehensive partnership (Indonesia, Singapore),

• Main ally outside NATO (Israel, Australia),

• NATO member allies

• Other friendly countries.

In this context, it can be said that Armenia has raised the level of its relations to a certain extent, but naturally there can be no question of alliance relations.

TRIPP. The TRIPP factor is important for understanding the current approaches of the USA in the South Caucasus. The US has two main priorities in the region: bringing the TRIPP project to life and increasing pressure on Iran. An important aspect of TRIPP is often overlooked by the public. It is an important element of US regional strategy, but not the only one. Its purpose is to export energy carriers from Central Asia to Europe through the South Caucasus and Turkey, bypassing China, Russia and Iran. In fact, China seeks and has already partially achieved the strengthening of its influence on the energy resources of Central Asia. It needs reliable export routes to Europe, which can also be implemented within the framework of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. The US, for its part, seeks to create difficulties for China by limiting its export opportunities, using various tools, from sanctions to the promotion of its own regional projects. In other words, if China largely controls the energy resources of Central Asia, the USA, with competitive logic, tries to control possible transit corridors to Europe. One of the main obstacles to the export from Central Asia to Europe was that, in case of reaching Azerbaijan through the Caspian Sea, the transfer of resources to Turkey would have to pass through the territory of Iran (or more recently, Georgia), which was not in the interests of Washington. In the case of TRIPP, that corridor is secured through the territory of Armenia, bypassing Iran, while bypassing Russia and creating additional complications for China, limiting access to alternative logistics routes.

In other words, the Trump administration is quite effectively advancing American interests in the South Caucasus, and the Armenian authorities, naturally, do not create any obstacles for the US in this global competition and, accordingly, enjoy the support of Washington.

International scholar Suren Sargsyan

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Sessions in the case of Armenians who were illegally detained and sentenced to arbitrary terms by the court of first instance started yesterday in the appeals court of Azerbaijan.

Here it is very important to understand that the main purpose of the appeal is to go through the Azerbaijani courts and get the opportunity to appeal to international courts. That is why Azerbaijan is delaying the process.

Several of our compatriots from Baku, on different occasions, informed that everything from the arrest and investigation to court proceedings took place under conditions of unprecedented pressure and fraud.

And the most dangerous thing is that all this is happening in the conditions of criminal silence and indifference of the Armenian authorities.

Tigran Abrahamyan, secretary of “I have an honor” faction

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The rescue service informs that the roads in the territory of RA are mostly passable.

The highways leading from “Amberd” high mountain meteorological station to Amberd Castle and Kari Lake in Aragatsotn Marz are closed.

According to the information received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the Crisis Management Center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Ossetia, the Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles.

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Cold arctic air currents will enter Armenia, the air temperature will drop by 8-10 degrees, Deputy Director of “Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center” Gagik Surenyan said.

“Throughout the day today and tomorrow until the evening, Armenia will be in the zone of influence of south-western sun-drained warm air currents, as a result of which warm and rainless weather is expected in the entire territory of Armenia. From the late evening hours of May 28, on May 29, 30, Armenia will be in the zone of influence of the cyclone entering from the Black Sea, as a result of which short thunderous rains are expected in the sunny region on those days.”

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There were a number of heraldic, morphological, and ideological defects in the previous coat of arms. This was announced by the Ministry of Defense, justifying why they changed the emblem of the army.

“The former coat of arms of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, approved in 2001, had a number of heraldic, morphological, and ideological flaws, so in the context of the transformation of the army, the process of revising the coat of arms was also initiated. The main character of the former coat of arms, the eagle, has significant heraldic and aesthetic flaws. The eagle is depicted with a closed beak. In heraldry, a closed beak is considered a calm, non-combat state, and is often perceived as a lifeless figure, which contradicts the essence of the army. The main body of the eagle, the torso, is missing, it is molded into the general surface, creating an eagle-like image assembled only from feathers. The eagle’s limbs, claws, weapon are missing. this creates the appearance of a mutilated, powerless, vulnerable being, which is unacceptable for an army symbol.

The central figure of the new coat of arms, the eagle, has been reinterpreted, depicted fully alive and fully embodied. The head, body, wings and claws are clearly visible, overcoming the omissions of the previous coat of arms. The eagle’s beak is open, which in heraldry symbolizes vitality, readiness, vigilance, the right to speech and power, the clear and dynamic posture of the eagle directly symbolizes the alertness and fighting spirit of the Army of the Republic of Armenia, it embodies the army’s mission to protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia,” the statement said.

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Yerevan has not received notifications from Moscow about the possible termination of the agreement on the supply of natural gas, oil products and rough diamonds. This was reported by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Armenia.

“The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Armenia has not received any letter or notice from the Russian side regarding this issue,” the department told “Armenpress” agency.

As “Kommersant” newspaper wrote earlier, Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev sent a letter to Armenia’s Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, warning about the possibility of unilateral termination of gas agreements.

The letter states that Russia may suspend or unilaterally cancel the agreement signed in December 2013 on the supply of natural gas, oil products and rough diamonds if Yerevan continues on its path to EU membership.

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Today, on May 27, the Government of Armenia approved the legislative project presented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which significantly changes the procedure for restoring that right for citizens who have been deprived of the right to drive. The project will be presented to the National Assembly for consideration.

The project proposes:

♦ the right of persons who have been deprived of the right to drive, upon application within 1 year after the expiry of the period of deprivation, to restore the right once without passing qualification exams, by paying the state duty prescribed by law, and to establish a probationary period for a period of 1 year. And the second or next time, restore only after passing qualifying exams.

♦ if a trial period is established, allocate 6 points instead of 13 points.

♦ in case of consumption of 6 penalty points by a person on probation, provide for deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for a period of one year.

♦ impose a state fee in the amount of fifty thousand drams to restore the right to drive without qualifying exams and to set a probationary period.

At the same time, a transitional provision is established, according to which after January 1, 2020, deprived persons will be able to restore their right to drive only once more, by paying the appropriate state fee and allocating 6 penalty points, subject to a 1-year probationary period.

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After the first information about Marco Rubio’s visit spread, under the influence of domestic political and campaign sentiments, the primary perception of almost everyone was that this is being carried out exclusively for the purpose of providing political support to the current authorities of Armenia, especially to Nikol Pashinyan.

However, the subsequent events and the study of the contents of the signed documents showed a much deeper and broader geopolitical picture.

As a matter of fact, Rubio’s visit was not so much about Armenia’s domestic political agenda as it was about US global strategic interests in the South Caucasus.

The main objectives of the visit were obviously the following:

◉ Rapid establishment of US strategic presence in the region,
◉ political and legal strengthening of the TRIPP project,
◉ Expanding control of critical minerals supply chains;
◉ Integration of the South Caucasus into the Western geo-economic system,
◉ Designing a new corridor architecture bypassing Iran and Russia,
◉ Limitation of China’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy.

And only at the end of all this, a demonstration of political support for the current authorities of Armenia, before the elections.

However, there is an extremely important circumstance here.

If the primary purpose of the visit was political “support”, then it is hard to imagine that the US Secretary of State would be limited to meetings in the airport format and would actually be in Armenia for only about 40 minutes, without a full state visit protocol, without deep political contacts and even without a meeting with the Prime Minister.

This in itself is a very telling political impulse.

It shows that the priority for Washington at this stage is not the internal political fate of Armenia, but the quick fixing of a new regional geo-economic and geo-political architecture.

And the authorities of Armenia in this process are considered mainly as the current operational partner in the implementation of that strategy.

In other words, a much bigger game is going on in the South Caucasus today than the usual pre-election campaign.

The region is emerging as an important hub of global power conflict, new geo-economic corridors, energy control and global realignments.

And it is at this historical and extremely dangerous stage that our compatriots must answer the most important question on June 7. Are the current authorities of Armenia and Nikol Pashinyan able to skillfully, coolly and state-mindedly manage the helm of the country in such complex geopolitical conditions?

Can they protect Armenia’s interest in a reality where big states fight not for declarations, but for corridors, resources, spheres of influence and strategic control?

I think the answer is obvious.

The state cannot safely go through such a historical storm with random decisions, situational politics and the logic of adapting to the agendas of external forces.
At this stage, Armenia does not need another propaganda administration, but state thinking, experience, calculation and national responsibility.

Davit Ananyan, former chairman of the RA SRC

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On May 28, during the military parade dedicated to the Republic Day, cannon shots will be heard. The RA Ministry of Defense informs NEWS.am about this.

“We ask the population to take note,” the message reads.

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