Category: News

Russia hopes the parties to the Nagorno Karbakh conflict will return to the negotiating table, Spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

“Today marks the anniversary of the end of  large-scale military actions at the line of contact between the Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in what became the worst violation of the ceasefire regime since 1994,” Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a briefing today.

“The OSCE Minsk Group and the international community have been taking measures to help create conditions for furthering the negotiations. For that purpose two summits were organized in Vienna and St. Petersburg. Work in that direction continues, and we hope the parties will return to the negotiating table and continue discussions,” Zakharova said.

Serj Tankian says he hopes to give a concert in Artsakh.

“I would like to come and play in Artsakh one day and bring other artists with me, if possible.  The most important today is to speak about Artsakh and present it in different places and to different people,” Tankian told .

“Everyone should know that Artsakh is a beautiful country, and people here wait for everyone with smile and love. I hope we don’t have to wait long for my concert here,” the System Of A Down frontman said.

Serj Tankian, film directors Arom Egoyan and Eric Nazarian, actresses Arsine Khanjyan are visiting Artsakh at the initiative of the Tufenkian Foundation.

Charles Aznavour has said he would like to see Armenia surrounded by friends only.

“Armenia needs help. It’s a small country surrounded by countries, some of which are friends, some are enemies. I would like to see only friends around. But for that they need to have the same mentality. It’s a matter of mentality, not of land or oil. I’m not interested in that. I want a person to remain a person,” Aznavour said.

The world-famous French-Armenian singer was a guest at Vecherniy Urgant (Evening Urgant) late-night talk show on Russian Channel One. Aznavour also talked about his large family and his links with Russia.

Charles Aznavour will give a concert at the State Kremlin Palace tonight.

A new international postage stamp will be issued in May by Haypost, Armenia’s national postal operator, in cooperation with the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. The image of Marguerite Barankitse, the inaugural Aurora Prize laureate, will be featured on the stamp. The release of the stamp underwent the mandated approval process by the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Armenia. The release and First day of issue ceremony will be part of the 2017 Aurora Prize special events.

The Aurora stamp is also a fundraising stamp. Attached to the first class stamp, valued at 350 AMD, is a donation coupon for 150 AMD. Together, the 500 AMD is equal to approximately US $1.00. Haypost will transfer the 150 AMD donation value to the Aurora Humanitarian Initative. This enables anyone to donate easily to the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.

“We founded the Aurora Initiative specifically in appreciation of those who risked offering help to Armenian genocide survivors, and we wanted to express that gratitude by continuing to do good, by empowering modern-day saviors so that they, too, can offer life and hope to those in urgent need of basic humanitarian aid. That is our way of saying these victims are now saviors. This goes beyond just remembering and actually puts gratitude in action. Each Aurora project, including the Maggy stamp and the accompanying donation opportunity, are ways of broadening the Aurora community, expressing gratitude and continuing the cycle of giving

“Haypost takes seriously its privileged position to transform the use of stamps into an opportunity to share the Armenian culture and history and important messages about the world. Having Aurora’s Maggy on an Armenian postage stamp is a very special way of telling the world that Armenians embrace our common humanity. A stamp takes that message around the globe,” said Juan Pablo Gechidjian, Managing Director of HayPost Trust Management B.V..

Marguerite Barankitse, the founder of Maison Shalom and REMA hospital, received the Aurora Prize for the exceptional impact of her actions on preserving lives during the years of civil war in Burundi. To date, she has saved 30 thousand children and offered them shelter and care.

“It is humbling for me to get such a recognition but it is also a great encouragement that love will always prevail over hate and evil. I believe it will raise awareness of what the Aurora Prize stands for: awakening humanity to recognize women and men who have made an exceptional impact in advancing humanitarian causes,” said Marguerite Barankitse.

The postage stamp will have a 350 AMD denomination value. The illustrator is Alla Mingyalova, a member of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative team. It will be issued with circulation of 40 thousand copies.

The First Day ceremony to mark the issue will be held on May, 2017, in the presence of Marguerite Barankitse who will be in Armenia to attend the second annual Aurora Prize events.

The 2017 Aurora Prize finalists will be announced on April 24, 2017, the annual day of remembrance for victims of the Armenian Genocide.  One of these finalists will then be named as the 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate at a special ceremony on May 28, 2017, in Yerevan, Armenia. During the month between April 24 and May 28, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative will organize a program of global activities to profile the inspirational stories of the 2017 finalists, as well as broader humanitarian endeavors.

On April 5, 2017, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, in the direction of the Hadrut region, near Karakhanbeyli.

From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Mihail Olaru (Moldova) and Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova), as well as staff-member of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Farrelli (Ireland).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by staff member of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE CiO Peter Svedberg (Sweden), Personal Assistant to the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain), and Head of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group (HLPG) Colonel Hans Lampalzer (Austria).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered.

From the Artsakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the Republic of Artsakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Russia says that chemical gas that killed and injured dozens of civilians in a rebel-held town in northern Syria came from rebel weapons on the ground, the BBC reports.

Its defence ministry acknowledged that Syrian planes had attacked the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province.

But it said the aircraft had struck a depot producing mines filled with a poisonous substance, for use in Iraq.

The US and others said Syrian planes had dropped chemical weapons, which Damascus denied.

UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll in Khan Sheikhoun at 72, including 20 children.

The man suspected of killing 11 people by bombing a St Petersburg train is a native of Kyrgyzstan who obtained Russian citizenship, the Central Asian country’s security service says, the BBC reports.

At least 45 people were injured in the explosion between two underground stations on Monday afternoon.

The Kyrgyz security service named the bomber as Akbarzhon Jalilov, who was born in Osh in 1995.

There are conflicting reports as to whether he was a suicide bomber.

Authorities in St Petersburg have declared three days of mourning.

Kyrgyz state media said the country’s security service was “maintaining contact with the Russian secret service for further investigation”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in St Petersburg – his home city – when the blast occurred, visited the scene on Monday evening and laid flowers at a makeshift shrine.

Russian investigators have given few details. No group has said it was responsible.

The Russian Investigative Committee has identified Kyrgyzstan native Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, 22, as suicide bomber, who blew himself up in  Saint Petersburg metro on Monday, killing 14 and injuring dozens of people, Sputnik reports.

“The investigation established the identity of the man who carried out an explosion in the metro train carriage in St. Petersburg. It was Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, born on 01.04.1995,” committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told reporters.

On April 5, 2017, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, in the direction of Hadrut region, near Karakhanbeyli, Press Service of the Artsakh Foreign Ministry informs.

From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Michael Olaru (Moldova) and Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova), as well as staff-member of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Farrelli (Ireland).

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members.

 

 

 

The election results came as no surprise to political scientist Sergey Minasyan. The one thing he that was unexpected to him was the defeat of the Armenian Renaissance Party. He believes the party had to cross the threshold of 5 percent, considering the administrative resources its leader Arthur Baghdasaryan possesses and many other factors.

Sergey Minasyans says he’s impressed by the results of Yelk bloc, and wonders why the Armenian National Congress decided to form an alliance to run for Parliament. He believes the force could make it to the National Assembly as a party.

According to the political scientist, Levon Ter-Petrosyans’s recent interviews played into the hands of ARF Dashnaktsutyun. “My impression is that Levon Ter-Petrosyan did everything for the Congress to fail to collect 5 percent,” Minasyan told a press conference today.

The political scientist says Karen Karapetyan played a positive role for the Republican Party. “The rebranding of the party was important at least during the election campaign,” he said.

Minasyan says the assessment of the elections by international observers was more positive than expected.

“The assessment shows there must be no problems with the signing of the Armenia-EU Framework Agreement,” he said.

Sergey Minasyan says Yelk bloc will be the only opposition force in the National Assembly, while representatives of Tsarukyan Alliance will play more of a role of ‘constructive opposition.”