RUSSIAN SENATOR PROTESTS INNOCENCE AFTER BRIBE VIDEO
Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow
5 Jun 06
Russian Federation Council member Levon Chakhmakhchyan (also referred
to in some reports as Chakhmakhchan) has denied any wrongdoing after
appearing in a video described by Russian Channel One TV on 4 June as
a sting carried out two days earlier by the Federal Security Service
(FSB). In comments heard on Ekho Moskvy radio on 5 June, Chakhmakhchyan
said FSB officials had confronted him after he had visited Aleksandr
Pleshakov, the board chairman of the airline Transaero. The ethnic
Armenian senator said Pleshakov had asked him for help in getting
elected vice-president of the Association of Russian-Armenian Business
Cooperation.
“Knowing that the honorary president of the association is the
president of the Republic of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, he [Pleshakov]
was attempting to join the association and asked me to nominate him
to its board as vice-president,” said Chakhmakhchyan.
“In Pleshakov’s office, in token of my friendly disposition, I gave
him a small souvenir, a teaspoon. In return, Pleshakov gave me two
models of aeroplanes, one small in a plastic bag, the other big in
a box. When we were leaving, Pleshakov indicated a briefcase to my
associate. In my view, my associate reckoned that the briefcase held
one of the souvenirs.
“Once the two of us were out of Pleshakov’s office, we were detained
by FSB officials. The reasons for the detention were not given to me.
My demands for release and arguments that I am a member of the
Federation Council were ignored. The agents behaved rudely and
cynically, used physical violence, treated me with contempt, including
by permitting themselves comments of nationalistic nature.
Only two-and-half hours later was I released,” Chakhmakhchyan said.
Ekho Moskvy said it had no immediate comment from Transaero.

AZERI, ARMENIAN LEADERS DISCUSS KARABAKH WITH ROMANIAN COLLEAGUE
ANS Radio, Baku
5 Jun 06
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan have met in Bucharest within the framework of the Black
Sea cooperation and development forum and discussed the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem.
The presidents have also discussed the Karabakh problem at a meeting
with their Romanian counterpart Traian Basescu.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Vardan Oskanyan and
Elmar Mammadyarov, have held a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs, Belgian Foreign Minister and OSCE chairman-in-office and
Karel De Gucht. The meeting lasted for about four and half hours. The
details of the talks have not been disclosed.

THERE ARE NO DETAILS ABOUT KOCHARYAN-ALIYEV MEETING
Lragir.am
05 June 06
On June 4 the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Bucharest.
The meeting started in the presence of the foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the OSCE
Chairman-in Office Karel de Gucht, and the personal representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. Then the meeting of the presidents went
on tete-a-tete. No details of the meeting have been reported so far.
It is also uncertain whether the meeting will have a continuation on
June 5.
This probably means that the meeting will not have a significant
outcome. In fact, it became clear long before the meeting, from
the statements of Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev, preceding the
meeting. Ilham Aliyev had announced before leaving for Bucharest
that Azerbaijan would retrieve all the lands, and Robert Kocharyan
had stated that he was not optimistic about this meeting.
Yet it was clear even before the statements of the presidents that
rumors about a breakthrough or a document were invented, considering
the statement of the deputy foreign ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chair countries in Yerevan. Arriving in the region on May 24,
on May 25 the OSCE Minsk Group made a statement. The Minsk Group
stated that now is the time for the sides to reach agreement on a
settlement. “What happens now will be up to Armenia and Azerbaijan,”
concluded the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group. And it was natural
that nothing would be up to Armenia and Azerbaijan, first because
everything had already been decided, and second, the interests and
expectations of Armenia and Azerbaijan are quite different. And as long
as they are different, any attempt to make a decision is definitely
doomed to failure.

A MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE FOR BIG FEUDALISTS
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
05 June 06
In 2006 Armenia will get the first tranche of the U.S. 235 million
dollar grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation. The Armenian
government is therefore busy solving the procedural problems to get
the first millions in 2006. The technical problems have almost been
settled, the managing board of the Millennium Challenge-Armenia Program
of 11 members has been set up, including 5 representatives of NGOs and
6 representatives of the government. Despite being fewer in number,
the representatives of NGOs have the right to veto. This is intended
to diminish the risk of corruption, of course, if it works.
In the meantime, there is enough ground to suggest that it will not
work. The reason is not that most Armenian NGOs are as corrupt as
government agencies. And the reason is not that most NGOs have been
set up and work on the order of the same government either. Although
it should be noted that the principle of clash of interests, underlying
the managing board, may disappear at all, considering the peculiarities
of the non-governmental sector. However, the managing board also
has peculiarities. 4 out of the 6 government representatives to the
board are ministers, 1 is prime minister. The board includes Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan. Minister of Finance Vardan Khachatryan,
Minister of Territorial Management Hovik Abrahamyan, Minister of
Agriculture Davit Lokyan and Minister of Transport and Communication
Andranik Manukyan. The sixth member is Vahram Nersisyants, adviser
to president. The staff includes officials from the spheres that
are directly related to the Millennium program. At first sight,
this senior-official-level staff is also an indicator of reduction
of corruption and great responsibility for the task. And this is
true, in fact, but the problem is which task they treat with great
responsibility.
Would it be possible to include officials of lower ranks in the board
than the prime minister and ministers? Surely, it would be possible,
especially that a junior official would be more flexible than a
busy (?) minister or prime minister. Now imagine a situation when a
decision is made during the meeting of the board, which contains a
high risk of corruption. One of the five members of the board, who
are representatives of NGOs, notices it and wants to use the right
to veto. This situation can occur in two different settings: in the
first one, the representatives of the government are junior officials,
in the second we have the present prime minister-minister-level staff.
If the government representatives to the board were lower-rank
officials, even deputy ministers, the NGOs would feel easier to
express their opinion. When the meeting of the board is conducted
by the prime minister, and four ministers are present, it is very
much doubted that the NGOs would dare to veto anything. It is true
that even with junior officials included in the board the same prime
minister and minister could indirectly deal with the same NGOs to
have them lift the veto. This would tarnish the “crystal” belief in
the Millennium Challenge-Armenia program, however.
Most probably, however, there will undoubtedly be crystal pureness,
because it concerns the reconstruction of infrastructures of rural
communities. The government would hardly rob itself. Most government
officials of Armenia are at the same time big feudalists, and own big
farms in the same rural communities. And the reconstruction of rural
infrastructures will promote their own business, irrigation of their
land and successful transportation of their production to the city.
Finally, there is no doubt that the program will be implemented
conscientiously. After all, it is not tarmac and anyone walks on it.
It is land, it is “cash.” Therefore, the government will be craving
for the effective implementation of the program for the prosperity of
the land. Therefore, there was no need for any NGO to become member
of the managing board. The ministers would control everything better
than anyone. After all, it is not accidental that the board is headed
by the prime minister, and includes ministers. In order not to allow
junior officials implementing the program to consider supporting their
families at the expense of the prime minister and ministers. For if
the land dries out, cash will dry out too.

BIRD FLU IS PROFITABLE
Lragir.am
05 June 06
The board of directors of the World Bank confirmed the 6.25 million
dollar loan to Armenia for the prevention of the bird flu. This was
reported by the World Bank Country Manager Armenia Roger Robinson
on June 5 in Yerevan. He also mentioned that the implementation of
the program for the prevention of the bird flu will be supported by
a 804 thousand dollar grant of the Japanese government.
According to Robinson, the program is designed to cover the cases when
a danger of spread of the bird flu occurs. Robinson said the program
has four main components: health, internal measures, awareness of
population and compensation to farmers who may suffer from a possible
epidemic. The loan is granted for 40 years, with a grace period of
ten years.

CHESS TEAM OF ARMENIA ACHIEVES THE OLYMPIC GOLD
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 10:24
Men’s chess team of Armenia achieved gold medals at the 37th World
Olympic Games in Turin. In the last decisive game Armenians played
a draw with the Hungariam team. This was just enough to achieve the
desirable Olympic gold. Our team showed a wonderful result in Turin. It
was the only one to have no defeats in the tournament, registering 10
victories and 3 draws. Our rival in the last round was the Hungarian
team, which was occupying the 5th place with 30.5 points. The last
game was entrusted to Levon Aronyan, Vladimir Hakobyan, Karen Asryan
and Gabriel Sargsyan, who fully realized the trust, registering the
recurrent chess achievement of Armenia.
We congratulate al the chess players and all our compatriots on the
occasion of this great victory.

STEVEN MANN: PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN DEMONSTRATE INTEREST IN DISCUSSIONS
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 13:54
“Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan demonstrate interest in
discussions,” said OSCE Minsk-Group Co-Chair Steven Mann, commenting
on Kocharyan-Aliev talks held in Bucharest.
Does the fact that it is two days that the talks are continuing mean
that certain progress was achieved at negotiations yesterday? In
response to the question, Steven Mann noted the Co-Chairs always
anticipate progress.
Refusing to report any details of yesterday’s talks, the American
Co-chair did not rule out that it will be possible to report more
precise information after today’s meeting.
Today RA President Robert Kocharyan had a meeting with the Foreign
Minister of Belgium, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Karel de Gucht. During
the meeting the parties discussed the prospects of settlement of the
Karabakh conflict as the regional developments.
President of Romania Traian BÄ~Csescu. The same topics were discussed
also during the meeting with Deputy Assistant to US President on
Security Issues J.
Crauch and EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus Peter
Semneby.
The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev also met Karel de Gucht,
J. Crauch and Peter Semneby.
–Boundary_(ID_QAWRJ2p5fiGikXuT2rR+xw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WORLD BANK SUPPORTS ARMENIA’S EFFORTS TO FIGHT AVIAN INFLUENZA
ArmRadio.am
05.06.2006 13:05
The World Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a credit of
US$6.25 million for the Avian Influenza Preparedness Project (AIP)
for Armenia. This project will assist the Government of Armenia in
minimizing the threat posed to humans by avian influenza infection in
domestic poultry and prepare for the control and response to influenza
pandemic and other infectious disease emergencies in humans.
The AIP project has three components. In the animal health sector
it will target the prevention, control and eradication of the avian
influenza virus through improved surveillance, strengthened detection
capacity of the reference laboratory and improved bio-safety in
the poultry sector. In the human health sector the project will
reduce the impact of a pandemic influenza virus through year-round
surveillance, effective and accurate methods of diagnosis, social
distance interventions and strengthened medical services. The
project will target also public awareness to increase the attention
and commitment of government, the private sector and civil society,
and to raise awareness, knowledge and understanding among the general
population about the risk and potential impact of a pandemic.

EXTERMINATION OF ARMENIAN CULTURAL PRESENCE IN NAKHICHEVAN – OUTCOME OF BAKU CRUEL POLICY
Yerkir
05.06.2006 12:30
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Armenian cultural monuments of Nakhichevan can
be spoken about only in the past tense, Hayk Demoyan, Candidate
of Historical Sciences, told journalists. “This was an outcome of
vandalism policy of Azerbaijan against Armenian monuments for many
years,” he said.
According to Demoyan, such cruel policy is being pursued in Azerbaijan
for many years at the state level. In his words, full extermination
of the Armenian cultural presence in Old Jugha was a logical outcome
of that policy, reports Novosti-Armenia.

TURKEY USES ‘RESTORATION’ AS NEW METHOD TO DESTROY ARMENIAN MONUMENTS
Yerkir
05.06.2006 12:29
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Turkey uses new methods to destroy Armenian
cultural monuments, Candidate of Historical Sciences Hayk Demoyan told
journalists.”If earlier monuments were openly destroyed in Turkey,
the situation has changed drastically lately,” the historian notes.
In his words, “restoration works” are held in Ani and in Akhtamar
Island at the moment. Demoyan said that under the pretence of
“restoration” Turkish authorities complete the genocide of Armenian
monuments, that they launched already in 1915 – simultaneous to the
Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey.
“Not only 1.5 million Armenians were destroyed by Turks at the time,
but also thousands of Armenian cultural monuments,” the historian said,
reports Novosti-Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress