Category: News

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE WILL BENEFIT RUSSIA
RIA Novosti, Russia
May 21 2004
YEREVAN, May 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russian companies, which are seriously
represented in the Armenian energy system, will get dividends from
the construction of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, President Robert
Kocharyan of Armenia said in an interview with the Public Television
of the republic.
In his words, one of the issues on the agenda of his May 13-15 talks
in Moscow was the construction of the above-mentioned pipeline. “It
is a highly interesting project that will benefit everyone, with
the exception of those who do not wish well to Armenia,” said the
president.
Iran will provide gas in return for Armenian electricity, said Robert
Kocharyan. “Since Russian companies are seriously represented in
Armenia’s energy system – Gazprom and Itera own 55% of ArmRosgazprom
and RAO UES owns about 40% of Armenian generating capacities, they
will benefit, too. This means that they will get major dividends from
the deal,” said the head of state.
On the other hand, he stressed that this will not lead to a reduction
in Russian gas deliveries. Armenia will use Russian gas for domestic
consumption because Russian gas is cheaper. “Russia in the person of
its companies will benefit because the safety of the Armenian energy
system will increase tenfold: we will be able to ensure reliable
gas provision even in case of an accident at one of the pipelines,”
said Kocharyan.
Moscow has a negative attitude toward actions designed to weaken the
standing of Armenia, he believes. “The President of Russia is informed
sufficiently well about the internal political events in Armenia and
is concerned over them. He has expressed his unambiguous support for
me and the authorities of Armenia,” said the Armenian president.
According to him, Russia believes that Armenia, under weak authorities,
may succumb to outside influences. “This does not meet the interests
of our bilateral relations, since Armenia is a strategic partner
of Russia in the South Caucasus,” the president said. Consequently,
any actions that may create such problems are viewed “as a threat to
the development of bilateral relations.”
Robert Kocharyan said he had invited President Putin to visit
Yerevan. “The invitation was accepted and we are discussing the date
now,” he said.
The president of Armenia was the first head of state to visit Russia
after the May 7 inauguration of President Vladimir Putin, which, he
thinks, “points to the depth and warmth in Russo-Armenian relations.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Joint Russia-US operation of Gabalin radar station is impossible
By Alexander Konovalov, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 20, 2004 Thursday
YEREVAN, May 20 — Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said after
his talks with Armenian opposite number Serge Sarkisyan on Thursday
that Russia considered it impossible to operate its radar station in
Gabalin, northern Azerbaijan, jointly with the United States.
Asked to comment on some media reports that the Russian military
facility in Azerbaijan could allegedly be operated jointly with the
United States under a long-term agreement, Ivanov replied that he
could hardly imagine how an installation working in the interests of
the Russian Space Troops could be used jointly with the United States.
“It’s hard to imagine even if someone’s imagination is very great,”
he noted.

Armenia purchases two Il-76 planes at preferential price
By Alexander Konovalov, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 20, 2004 Thursday
YEREVAN, May 20 — Armenia has bought two Russian Il-76 military
transport aircraft at Russia’s internal prices, Russian Defence
Minister Sergei Ivanov said after talks with his Armenian opposite
number Serge Sarkisyan.
“Two Il-76 military transport planes landed in Armenia on Thursday.
Armenia had purchased them from Russia at preferential internal
prices within the framework of the Organization of Collective Security
Treaty,” the Russian minister went on to say.
“This system has been in effect for many years and has enabled the
Armenian Defence Ministry to obtain two good military transport
planes,” Ivanov added.
Speaking about Russia’s military cooperation with NATO, Ivanov
specified that Russia participated in joint military exercises with
NATO only if that meets its national interests.
“As far as the participation of the Russian armed forces in joint
exercises with NATO is concerned, we do it only if we can gain some
practical benefit from it,” the Russian defence minister said.
“We have a selective approach to this issue proceeding from our
national, including military interests. If joint exercises with NATO
are of no use to our troops, we openly tell our partners about it,”
Ivanov explained.

Russia holds selective approach to joint exercises with NATO
By Alexander Konovalov, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 20, 2004 Thursday
YEREVAN, May 20 — Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on
Thursday after meeting his Armenian opposite number Serge Sarkisyan
that Russia participates in joint military exercises with NATO if
that meets its national interests.
“As far as the participation of the Russian armed forces in joint
exercises with NATO is concerned, we do it only if we can gain some
practical benefit from it,” the Russian defence minister said.
“We have a selective approach to this issue proceeding from our
national, including military interests. If joint exercises with NATO
are of no use to our troops, we openly tell our partners about it,”
Ivanov explained.

No hasty pullout of Russian bases from Georgia-defense minister
By Alexander Konovalov, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 20, 2004 Thursday
YEREVAN, May 20 — Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has ruled
out hurried withdrawal of Russian troops from the military bases
in Georgia.
“There can be no haste about the removal of Russian military bases
from Georgia. This is out of the question. There will be no repetition
of what happened in the early 90’s when Russian troops were removed
from Germany,” Ivanov said after talks with his Armenian counterpart
Serge Sarkisian. “To remove bases from Georgia Russia will need time
and great financial resources to create infrastructures at the troops’
new location in Russia.”
Of late, the process of talks on the removal of Russian military
from Georgia slowed down somewhat for objective reasons following
the change of governments in Russia and Georgia.
“As soon as new delegates are appointed, the negotiations on the
removal of bases will be continued. The talks concern pullout dates
and the status of bases, which are part of the Russian military group
in the Caucasus.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

No plans to build up military personnel at base in Armenia-Ivanov
By Alexander Konovalov, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 20, 2004 Thursday
YEREVAN, May 20 — Russia has no plans for building up the strength
of its contingent at the 102nd military base in Armenia, Russian
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said after talks with his Armenian
counterpart Serge Sarkisian.
“There are no plans for increasing the contingent at the Gyumri base.
We believe that the number of military we have there is sufficient
and optimal. It is not quantitative, but qualitative parameters of
the base’s operation that really count, and we have monitored its
condition and performance very closely to ensure that the Russian
military base in Armenia, which is part of the Russian military group
in the Caucasus, be well supplied with ammunition, hold training under
the expected schedule and improve itself technically. Increasing the
number of Russian military at the Gyumri base will make no sense and
there are no reasons for this.”

OSCE monitors Azeri-Armenian contact line
Space TV, Baku
21 May 04
In line with the mandate of the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, routine monitoring was held on the contact line
between the Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces in the village of
Yusifcanli in Agdam District today.
On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring was conducted by Andrzej
Kasprzyk, personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, and
his field assistants [names indistinct], and on the Armenian side –
by field assistants [names indistinct] of the personal representative
of the OSCE chairman-in-office.

Russia’s military base at Gyumri faces no problems – Ivanov
By Alexander Konovalov, Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 20, 2004 Thursday
YEREVAN, May 20 — Relations between Russia and Armenia in the sphere
of defense and security have been developing dynamically and steadily
and there have been no major problems in military affairs, including
the operation of the 102nd military base at Gyumri, Russian Defense
Minister Sergei Ivanov said upon arrival in Armenia on a working visit.
Russia supplies Armenia with military products at internal prices.
“These matters have been discussed regularly within the framework of
the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia is entitled to
the same opportunities to buy Russian military hardware as the other
CSTO member-states.”
Later on Thursday Ivanov will hold talks with his Armenian counterpart
Serge Sarkisian to look into Russian-Armenian cooperation in the
field of defense, military-technological cooperation and military
personnel training.
“Regional security issues and situations in trouble spots will be
discussed, too,” Ivanov said.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 21, 2004, Friday
LUKASHENKO JEALOUS OF NATO
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, May 18, 2004, p. 5
by Olga Mazayeva
Nikolai Bordyuzha, General Secretary of the Organization of the CIS
Collective Security Treaty, visited Minsk last week. The visit was
not pre-announced even though Bordyuzha met with President Alexander
Lukashenko. The meeting looked hasty and generated a lot of
speculations – after all, Bordyuzha had already visited Minsk two
weeks ago. All of that made local observers wonder that Bordyuzha
perhaps could have some clandestine mission to accomplish. The
impression the visit left was that Bordyuzha had come to gauge
Lukashenko’s meed before his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Yalta on
May 21 and 22.
All leaks to the official media concerned Lukashenko’s extreme
displeasure over the contacts of CIS countries and particularly
Russia with NATO. The president of Belarus told Bordyuzha irritably
that he wondered if the Organization of the CIS Collective Security
Treaty was that necessary in the first place (the organization
comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan). According to Lukashenko, he did not “understand the
behavior of participants of the Organization of the CIS Collective
Security Treaty… There are NATO troops in Tajikistan under the
pretext of fighting terrorism. We support it. But Belarus did not
know anything about it nobody had asked for its opinion despite
appropriate provisions of the Treaty. What if Belarus let some other
bloc deploy troops on its territory? What would our colleagues have
said? They’d have objected.” The president of Belarus also wondered
of Armenia’s and Kazakhstan’s contacts with NATO. “Some separate
negotiations are under way – always with plausible explanations,” he
said. Lukashenko was particularly irked by the fact that “even Russia
cooperates with NATO and we discover it from newspapers.” Bordyuzha
agreed that the Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty
should clarify its position and stop being amorphous when the United
States and Europe were expanding their clout eastward.
Summing up the meeting, Lukashenko said that every organization
should promote security of its members and that he did not want to
waste money on membership otherwise. In short, there is no
information on what Bordyuzha’s mission was about but Lukashenko’s
response to it is very revealing. “NATO is on the borders of the
Russian-Belarusian Union now,” Lukashenko told Bordyuzha. He said
that Moscow and Minsk set up a joint army group capable of “repelling
any threat” and therefore should stick to each other.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
May 21, 2004, Friday
A festival crammed with delights The films in Cannes ranged from a
balletic martial-arts epic to a gripping family drama made for just
$218
By SUKHDEV SANDHU
This was meant to be the year when Asian cinema conquered everything
before it at Cannes. Korean pulp maestro Chan-Wook Park certainly
didn’t take any prisoners with Old Boy. It’s a dark revenger’s tale
about a wild-haired guy who is hellbent on finding out why he was
imprisoned in a windowless apartment for 15 years and who it was that
killed his family.
Violent, nasty and thoroughly exciting, it features gag-or-glee
scenes in which characters eat live octopuses and chop out their own
tongues. One terrific kung-fu scene where the guy takes out more than
a dozen assassins, a scene shot in profile and almost in silence,
will have had Quentin Tarantino (head of the voting panel and a huge
Park fan) in raptures.
More poetic was Zhang Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers. This Chinese
martial arts epic about a love triangle that develops between members
of the ninth-century Tang Dynasty and its radical opponents has very
little blood-letting. Instead, the fighting is choreographed with a
deftness and grace that turns it into a form of ballet. It’s rare to
see a female lead, Zhang Ziyi, play such a prominent role, not least
since she portrays a blind double agent. Costume and music are used
to ravishing effect, while the russet colours of the landscapes in
which the drama unfolds are both unusual and deeply lovely.
Coffee and Cigarettes by American indie giant Jim Jarmusch is a
low-key but delightfully droll collection of dialogues between
well-known and counter-cultural faves, mostly playing themselves.
Cate Blanchett is a feted Australian actress who is visited during a
press junket by a snarky, punky cousin (also played by Blanchett).
Iggy Pop pow-wows with Tom Waits; Jack and Meg White of the White
Stripes have a curious dialogue about motor technology; Bill Murray
works undercover as coffee-guzzling restaurant hand, before being
spotted by members of the WuTang Clan. Best of all is a double-header
in which Alfred Molina arranges a meeting with Steve Coogan to inform
him that they’re cousins. Coogan, in LA to hustle for Hollywood
roles, is distinctly unimpressed – until he learns that Molina is a
friend of Spike Jonze. The film is a tribute to the joys of creative
idling and ends with a nice touch: the slogan “Long live Joe
Strummer”.
One of the more subtle pleasures of the festival has been Argentinian
director Lucrecia Martel’s La Nina Santa. It’s an oblique and
elliptical comedy of manners set in a small hotel that’s hosting a
medical convention. It’s run by a glamorous middle-aged mother who is
attracted to a delegate with an unfortunate tendency to rub against
young girls, one of whom is his suitor’s teen daughter. Not that she
minds – she’s a languorous adolescent who wants to use the Catholic
doctrines she studies in school to try to save him. The plot is full
of false turns, and belly laughs are scarce. Still, as both an
exquisitely constructed strand of higher sitcom, as well as a
portrait of the tensions around burgeoning adulthood, this is an
attractive curio.
Made for $218.32, Tarnation by Jonathan Crouette is a painfully
revelatory documentary about the director’s mother, who was
needlessly given electric shock therapy for much of her life, and
about his own subsequent descent into drug abuse and self-mutilation.
Intercut with home footage, it uses techniques associated with
experimental cinema (split screens, sound distortion), but puts them
to unusually emotional effect. Sumptuously soundtracked by Nick Drake
and Belle and Sebastian, and executive-produced by Gus Van Sant, it’s
likely to attract big audiences when it’s released in the UK.
Cannes prides itself on its respect for celluloid history, and this
year saw a welcome showcase for some of the key films of the
Brazilian Cinema Novo movement of the early 1960s, and a great print
of Mehboob Khan’s 1957 social epic Mother India.
Also of note has been Wall, Simone Bitton’s investigation of the
barriers constructed to separate Israelis from Palestinians, which
expands into an urgent and deeply felt tone poem about the psychology
and politics of the Middle East. I Died In Childhood is a haunting
portrait of the great Armenian director Sergei Paradjanov made by his
nephew. Including footage from now-unknown classics such as The
Colour of Pomegranates, it will be of interest to fans of Russian
Ark.
So who will win this year’s Palme d’Or, to be announced on Sunday?
The smart money’s on Walter Salles’s The Motorcycle Diaries and Wong
Kar Wai’s 2046 (due to be shown last night, after a race against time
to get it finished). The strangest film, though, was Thai director
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s wild and imaginatively unfettered
Tropical Malady. That, and Michael Winterbottom’s audacious and very
affecting 9 Songs, have been my favourites of Cannes 2004.