Category: News

On 14 October His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; sent condolence letters to the families of the victims who died in the Moscow-Yerevan bus crash. The bus was travelling on the Beslan-Vladikavkaz route when the crash occurred in the early morning hours, Press Service of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin informs.

“We deeply regret the occurrence of the crash and pray for our children who are victims of the accident. During this difficult time, we ask for the comfort of the Holy Spirit and offer our support to the families and friends of the victims. We also pray for a speedy recovery of the injured”, the letters stated.

His Holiness instructed the Armenian Diocese of Southern Russia to provide necessary spiritual care and support to the accident victims and their families.

The CSTO Collective Security Strategy was adopted at the CSTO Collective Security Council session in Yerevan today.  The Strategy outlines the priorities of the organization until 2025 and determines all main directions of cooperation.

“The CSTO member states reiterated their willingness to build relations with the international community on the basis of inseparability of loyalty and security, to avoid the use of force or the threat of force and give preference to diplomatic methods, when solving emerging problems,” Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told reporters, as he summed up the results of the Yerevan summit.

Upon the conclusion of the meeting, the participants adopted a statement, expressing the approaches on key issues on international agenda. The Heads of State reiterated the role of the Organization as an important tool contributing to the maintenance of peace and stability, ensuring the security and sovereignty of the member states.

“Within the framework of the CSTO the partners expressed support to the agreements on Nagorno Karabakh reached at the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits, which are targeted at preventing the rise of tension, stabilizing the situation and promoting the peace process,” President Sargsyan said.

“During the sitting the participants stressed the need to solve the Karabakh conflict exceptionally through peaceful means and expressed support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs based on the norms and principles of international law, the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, namely the non-use of force or the threat of force, the territorial integrity of states and the right of peoples to self-determination,” President Sargsyan said.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received today Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. The Prime Minister first referred to the road accident involving a passenger bus en route from Moscow to Yerevan that left 5 killed and many injured.

Expressing his deep concern over the accident, the Prime Minister said he had already instructed the heads of relevant bodies to assess the situation on the ground and take necessary measures. He expressed gratitude to the Russian party for rapid response and for the immediate assistance.

On behalf of the Russian Government, Maxim Sokolov expressed condolences to the families of the victims and presented the details of the situation and the ongoing work. He assured that the Russian party was doing the utmost to provide necessary medical and psychological assistance to those injured. He said the Deputy Transport Minister of Russia was at the site of the crash to reveal the circumstances of the accident.

The interlocutors then discussed the Armenian-Russian relations and the perspectives of their development. The parties attached importance to the expansion of cooperation and implementation of programs in the fields of agriculture, tourism, energy, IT, transport infrastructures.  In this respect they emphasized the activity of the Armenian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, which is expected to hold its next sitting in Yerevan in 2017.

Karen Karapetyan and Maxim Sokolov discussed issues related to infrastructure programs of regional importance, which will contribute to the restoration and development of transit communication routes.

Turkey can play a positive role in Nagorno-Karabakhh settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday, TASS reports.

“The fact that Turkey can play a positive role, ensuring the unblocking of Nagorno-Karabakh, ensuring normal economic cooperation in the region – is a major factor that we always have in mind,” he told reporters in Yerevan.

“If Armenia and Turkey get back to the implementation of their agreements without reference to the Karabakh conflict, we will only be glad. But our feeling is that progress in the Karabakh settlement will be crucial for seeing Armenian-Turkish relations normalized,” Lavrov said.

President Serzh Sargsyan has offered condolences over the crash of the passenger bus travelling from Moscow to Yerevan and issued a number of instructions for the RA state bodies. The President’s letter of condolences reads:

“Dear Compatriots,

I learned with great sorrow the news on the night accident with the bus travelling from Moscow to Yerevan which resulted in the loss of human lives and casualties. At this grave moment, I express my condolences and support to the families of the victims, their relatives and friends. I wish a speedy recovery to all injured.”

A short time after the accident, the relevant bodies reported to the President that early this morning, at 4.30am a major accident took place at the Beslan-Vladikavkaz highway. A bus travelling on the Moscow-Yerevan route and a truck collided. According to the preliminary data, five were killed and 27 injured. President Serzh Sargsyan instructed the Government of Armenia and RA Embassy in Russia to undertake urgent measures to provided necessary assistance to the victims and organize full-scale medical aid. He also instructed to provide necessary assistance to the families of those killed and injured. Relevant bodies in Armenia were instructed in a short period of time together with the law enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation to find out the causes of the accident and its circumstances and provide a comprehensive report.

The President was also informed that representatives of the RA Consulates in Rostov and South Russia have already arrived at the site of the accident and in cooperation with the relevant bodies of the Russia are engaged in providing first aid to the injured.

Jose Mourinho has told that Luke Shaw and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are available for selection ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League blockbuster at Liverpool on Monday. 

Shaw has not featured since suffering an injury during the 3-1 defeat to Watford at Vicarage Road on 18 September, which has since led to Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind both filling in at left-back.

Summer signing Mkhitaryan last appeared in the Manchester derby on 10 September, but the six-time Armenian Player of the Year has now recovered full fitness in time for the trip to Anfield. He notably scored on Merseyside last season when visiting with former club Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League.

Mourinho revealed both players are available when talking to MUTV at the Aon Training Complex on Friday, when he also confirmed that all of his international players have returned to United without injury.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan missed the international break as he continued his recovery from a thigh problem.

Photo: Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry's Press Office/TASS

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a federal law on ratifying an agreement between Russia and Syria on the deployment of an aviation group of the Russian armed forces in the Syrian Arab Republic, the Kremlin press service reported on Friday, TASS reports.

The law was passed by Russia’s State Duma on October 7, 2016, and approved by the Federation Council on October 12, 2016.

The agreement was signed in Damascus on August 26, 2015. Almost a year later – on August 9, 2016 – it was submitted by Russia’s president to the State Duma for ratification. The deal stipulates that the Russian air force group will be deployed at the request of the Syrian side at the Hmeymim airfield in the Latakia province indefinitely and on a pro bono basis.

Today, at the Presidential Palace started a session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in the restricted format with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambaev, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakijan Sagintaev, and Secretary General of the CSTO Nikolay Bordzyuzha. The session is chaired by the President of Armenia which was presiding in the Council between the sessions of 2015-2016.

Welcoming the participants of the session and noting that today Armenia’s presidency at the CSTO comes to an end, President Sargsyan underscored that Armenia attaches great importance to the success of the Yerevan summit.

“We have tried to do our best so that our mutual work is sapid and efficient, for the benefit of the cooperation of our countries in the Organization and for the development of the CSTO in general. It is expected that today we will discuss a wide range of issues related to the earlier adopted decisions. Discussed will be a number of documents, adoption of which will set the guidelines of our cooperation in the nearest future.

I am confident that traditions of a constructive mood and mutual assistance will be with us during this session too, which will allow to operatively endorse and adopt important decisions.

Once again, as the accepting side, I welcome you to Armenia. Welcome to Yerevan,” said the President of Armenia during his welcoming remarks addressed to the participants of the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

The session in the restricted format will be followed by the session in the extended format with the participation of the official delegations of the CSTO member states.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed the rise of Congressman David Valadao (R-CA), from California’s Central Valley, to his new role as Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues.

A longstanding friend of Armenians from Fresno and across America, he takes on this new post ready to work with his Caucus colleagues in support of a broad range of ANCA-supported priorities, including a U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty, the prospect of a new Millennium Challenge Corporation grant for Armenia, continued direct U.S. aid to Artsakh, and the regulatory framework needed to initiate direct international flights from airports in the United States to Zvartnotz airport in Yerevan.

“We are honored to see Congressman Valadao – a proud son of our Central Valley – take on this pivotal leadership position in the Congressional Armenian Caucus,” remarked ANCA Central California activist Sevag Tateosian “It holds special meaning for those of us in and around Fresno – one our nation’s first Armenian communities – to see our U.S. Representative helping to lead a bipartisan legislative effort to ensure that our voices are heard and our views are respected in Washington, DC. We look forward to vigorously working with him hand in hand in advancing the many issues on our shared agenda.”

Valadao was born and raised in Hanford, California in the center of the agriculturally rich Twenty First Congressional District. As a lifelong resident of the Central Valley, he has been active in agriculture and dairy industry groups, as well as many local causes including Children’s Hospital Central California, 4-H, Future Farmers of America, and various Catholic charities. The Valadao family emigrated from the Azores Islands of Portugal to the United States in 1969. After settling in the Central Valley, Valadao’s father started a small dairy farm in the Central Valley in 1973. Valadao was born on April 14, 1977.

In 2010, Valadao was elected to represent California’s 30th State Assembly District. Valadao served on several California Assembly Committees including the Agriculture Committee, where he held the position of Committee Vice-Chair. In 2012, Valadao was elected to represent California’s 21st Congressional District, which includes Kings County and portions of Fresno, Kern, and Tulare Counties. He was reelected for his second term in November 2014. Valadao is proud to serve on the influential House Appropriations Committee, which is the committee responsible for funding the federal government and determining where American tax dollars are spent.

The Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues was founded by Representatives Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and former Congressman John Porter (R-Ill.) in 1995. Since that time, the bipartisan panel has been at the forefront of Congressional action on a broad range of Armenian American concerns – from justice for the Armenian Genocide, to self-determination for Nagorno-Karabakh, stronger U.S.-Armenia ties, and support for Armenian communities in Georgia and oppressed Armenian and other Christian communities around the world.

The 26 citizens injured in the crash involving a bus en route from Moscow to Yerevan and the bodies of the two victims (Arevik Lunonyan and Yuri Poghosyan) will be transported to Armenia today, the Ministry of Transport, Communication, Information Technologies informs. The three other victims of the accident are citizens of the Russian Federation.

Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Transport, Communication, Information Technologies Aram Arsenyan and representatives of the Ministry of Healthcare visited the site of the accident this morning to coordinate the work on the ground.

The Ministry had already arranged the return of the passengers in a bus, but the Russian authorities have offered to transport them in a plane.