OSKANYAN LEFT FOR MOSCOW
A1+
[05:53 pm] 05 April, 2006
The RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan left for Moscow on official
visit. He will meet the RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the
secretary of the RF Security Council Sergey Ivanov, as well as the
OSCE Minsk group Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov.
Within the framework of the Moscow visit there will be discussions
about different issues of the Armenian-Russian relations including
mutual cooperation in different fields. A special place will be given
to the consultations about the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.
Within the framework of the three-day visit Vardan Oskanyan will
visit the Moscow Carnegie center where he will render a lecture titled
“Southern Caucasus: Cooperation and Security”.
Oskanyan will also give an interview to the newspaper “Rossiyskaya
Gazeta” and the TV Company “Russia Today”.
The Foreign Minister will return to Armenia on April 7.

DASHNAKTSUTIUN MANEUVRING BETWEEN POWER PLANT AND GAS PIPELINE
Lragir.am
05.04.2006
The government of Armenia has not answered the question how close to
the rumors on transferring the fifth generating unit of the Thermal
Power Plant of Hrazdan or 45 per cent of the Iran-Armenia pipeline
to Russia are reality. This helps the political forces of Armenia,
including the national political forces to avoid expressing an
opinion on another attempts of “property exchange” with Russia. This
opportunity was used by the leader of the faction of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation Levon Mkrtichyan as well, whom the reporter
of the Lragir.am asked to express opinion about the possible deal.
“When these rumors are confirmed or refuted, we will express our
opinion,” answered Levon Mkrtichyan. But he does not seem to mind
this exchange, at least the leader of the political force viewed
the problem on an economic plane, underlining the pipeline and the
thermal power plant from the very beginning.
“You know the problem is the following if it is a question of
investment. If we cannot build the thermal plant for years on,
and now the opportunity arises, it is important what type of a
business project it is. It does not matter if Iran, Russia or the
United States builds it. It is a problem, as such. Let us not forget
that the other four generating units belong to Russia, and we cannot
manage to build the fifth generating unit this year, if you remember,”
said Levon Mkrtichyan. He has a similar opinion about transferring
the shares of the gas pipeline to Russia. That is, he also thinks
that everything depends on the manner. “One should know for sure to
be able to comment,” declined to comment Levon Mkrtichyan.

FADEY SARGSYAN DECIDED NOT TO RESIGN
Lragir.am
05.04.2006
The meeting of the presidency of the National Academy of Sciences
of Armenia on April 5 lasted for over 4 hours, but no episode of the
forecast came true. Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan did not turn up,
the president of the NAS did not resign.
The gathering of the academicians, who lived the greater part of their
lives under the Soviet rule, reminded similar gatherings of Soviet
times. The leader is never mistaken, the criticizer is a betrayer. The
meeting of the presidency of the NAS of non-Soviet Armenia heard
the 13 accusations of Academician Henry Nersisyan against Fadey
Sargsyan. Henry Nersisyan was characterized as “having dishonest aims,
an extremist capable of anything, eccentric.” And Fadey Sargsyan as
someone who made Armenia prosperous, having great merits, too tolerant.
The finish of the “revived” Soviet lifestyle was “disturbed”
by Academicians Hrachik Simonyan and Lenser Aghalovyan only, who
disagreed to the words addressed to Henry Nersisyan. Moreover,
like Henry Nersisyan, they wanted to find out where the 50 million
drams economized from the sum of honorariums of the academicians,
the annual 5 million drams from the lease of the territory, belonging
to the NAS, as well as donations to the NAS disappear. The commission
had not answered these questions either.
And the chair of the commission Yuri Chilingaryan declined to
answer the same questions during the meeting, saying “we wouldn’t
like to frighten our benefactors.” It apparently means that not
everything is clean but let us not talk about it “not to frighten
our benefactors.” Instead, speaking about the Medical Genetic Center,
headed by Tamara Sargsyan, Fadey Sargsyan’s daughter, the commission
found that the phrase “her daughter’s center” used by Fadey Sargsyan
is unacceptable. Similarly, it means that Fadey Sargsyan cannot be
introduced as the president of the NAS, Yuri Chilingaryan cannot be
introduced as the head of the department of Yerevan State University.
Fadey Sargsyan has formed a bureau, an advisory body, which passed
decisions, however. Nevertheless, the commission thinks that the law
was not broken. At the same time, the presidency of the NAS offers “to
choose in such cases the way which is more democratic, like the system
of academy.” However, no one explained why such a democratic system
does not accept criticism or an opinion that differs from the majority.
At the end, not deferring to some people’s requests, Fadey Sargsyan
announced that there was no reason for dismissing Henry Nersisyan. And
deferring to the request of the same persons, announced that he will
not resign. And the meeting of the presidency of the NAS decided to
approve the findings of the commission, eliminate the shortcomings,
reported by the commission.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN SIDE IS READY FOR THE PROSPECT OF SETTLEMENT
Lragir.am
05.04.2006
Armenia and Azerbaijan are not interested in hampering the settlement
of the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. During the April 5 press
conference this was stated by the EU Special Representatives on
the South Caucasus Peter Semnebi. According to the news agency ARKA,
Semnebi said the year 2006 can be an important year for the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict.
The special representative of the EU mentioned that every opportunity
to settle the conflict must be used. He stated that he must lay special
emphasis on the role of the EU in the settlement of the conflict. He
assures that this issue is the peculiarity of the mandate of the
special representative. He mentioned that during his visit to Armenia
the leadership of the country assured that the Armenian party can
see prospects of conflict settlement and is ready for it.

ENVOY POINTS TO GROWING EU INTEREST IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT – ARMENIAN AGENCY
Mediamax news agency
5 Apr 06
Yerevan, 5 April: “I am not happy with statements about a possible
military resolution to the Karabakh conflict. During my recent visit to
Azerbaijan I said that any attempts to resolve the conflict militarily
will entail catastrophic consequences,” the EU special representative
for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, said in Yerevan today.
Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan, Peter Semneby said that the
Armenian and Azerbaijani leaderships bear “historical responsibility”
for the conflict settlement and that 2006 is a very convenient year to
resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. “The window of opportunities is
still open and the European Union is ready to render every assistance
to the peace process,” the EU special representative said.
Peter Semneby noted that “my mandate focuses more on the assistance
to the conflict settlement than the mandate of my predecessor Heikki
Talvitie, and this is a political signal of the EU’s growing interest
in the settlement of frozen conflicts”. He said that the EU’s increased
interest in conflict settlement is also explained by the fact that
Armenia and Azerbaijan are expanding their relations with the EU
within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy.
Peter Semneby said that the European Union could play a significant
role in the implementation of projects of post-conflict rehabilitation
in the region after the signing of a peace agreement.
The EU could also take part in peacekeeping efforts.
The EU special representative stressed that the EU’s growing interest
in the conflict settlement does not at all mean that the format of
the OSCE Minsk Group will be changed. Peter Semneby said that they
“are doing their job well”.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SUGGESTS CIA USED ROMANIA FOR RENDITION FLIGHTS
Ziua website, Bucharest
5 Apr 06
Excerpt from report by George Damian, “Amnesty International accuses
Romania again in CIA scandal – Amnesty International includes Romania
on list of countries where CIA prison-planes may have landed”,
published by Romanian newspaper Ziua website on 5 April
In its latest report, which Amnesty International launched yesterday,
Romania is mentioned as the destination of at least two flights
made by an aircraft that the CIA has used for rendition flights. In
the report entitled “Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and
‘disappearance'”, Amnesty International says that the Boeing 737-7ET,
call sign N313P-N4476S, was used for at least 396 flights that are
suspected of having shipped CIA detainees.
The flight recordings consulted by Amnesty International indicate
that N313P-N4476S is the aircraft that shipped Khaled el Masri,
a German citizen detained in Macedonia and shipped to Afghanistan,
where he was detained for four months, with US guards, according to
his own statements.
N313P-N4476S has also landed in Romania twice, once in Bucharest and
once in Timisoara.
Human Rights Watch has indicated that N313P-N4476S is the “aircraft
used by the CIA to move several prisoners in and out of Europe,
Afghanistan and the Middle East in 2003 and 2004: it has landed in
Poland and Romania coming directly from Afghanistan.”
Calculations indicate Romania
Muhammad Abdullah al Assad was arrested in Tanzania in 2003 and US
agents took him into custody almost immediately. He was detained
illegally for 21 months and then handed over to the Yemeni authorities.
Studying Assad’s account, Amnesty International has calculated, based
on the time zone and the prayer calendar the detainee observed, that
the detention places were north of the 41st parallel. These are the
countries that are Council of Europe members (and which should not
have accepted that their soils be used for covert detention centres)
in the region: Turkey, Azerbaidjan, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria,
Albania and Macedonia.
Amnesty International also says in its report that the information
provided by Assad about the flight duration offers indications about
the place where they were detained. The flight to Yemen in May 2005
is described as a non-stop journey of approximately seven hours. The
description of the aircraft indicates a small plane. Considering that
the speed of such aircraft is 250-500 knots, the final flight could
have been 2,600-5,200 kilometres.
The triangulations between this flight and the shorter journeys made
from Afghanistan to their secret destination exclude locations in
Western Europe or the Middle East. If the flight durations indicated by
the detainees are correct, the initial flight from Afghanistan could
have had the following destinations: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey,
Georgia, or the Romanian or Bulgarian coastal areas of the Black
Sea. [passage omitted: background facts on alleged CIA rendition
flights, not concerning Romania]

KARS-AKHALKALAKI RAILROAD IS DISSIPATION
Lragir.am
05.04.2006
The European Union thinks it is necessary to invest money in the
reconstruction of the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi-Baku railroad instead
of dissipating money on the construction of Kars-Akhalkalaki,
which passes by Armenia. The news agency ARKA informs that this was
stated by the foreign minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan on April
5.According to him, the standpoint of the EU with regard to this
question is definite. “The EU has announced for a number of times
that the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railroad project does not
enjoy the political and economic support of Europe,” says Vardan
Oskanyan. Peter Semnebi, the EU Special Representative on the South
Caucasus, who participated in the same news conference, declined to
speak on this, saying that it is not in his competence.

ARMENIAN LEADER SAYS GOVERNMENT TO COMPENSATE PEOPLE FOR GAS PRICE RISE
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
5 Apr 06
[Presenter] Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today visited the
ArmRosGazprom company in Yerevan and held a working meeting with the
management of the company.
Kocharyan said that ArmRosGazprom was a large company and played a
significant role in developing the Armenian economy. He added that the
main goal of his visit was to summarize the results of the company’s
work in 2005 and outline the main tasks for 2006.
The head of ArmRosGazprom, Karen Karapetyan, said that 1.69bn cu.m.
of gas was delivered to the republic in 2005, which was 24.2 per cent
more than in 2004. He said that today ArmRosGazprom supplies gas to
360,634 customers. The company is planning to finish the intensive
stage of restoring gas supplies in 2007. In the future, ArmRosGazprom
is planning to increase the number of customers by 80,000.
The Armenian president said with confidence that the company would
keep up with the pace of development of recent years.
[Kocharyan] First, we should realize that from now on we will be
buying gas not at 54 dollars per 1,000 cu.m. Gas at this price can
be found nowhere. The tariff commission was to approve a new gas price.
We have carried out an intensive work with the Russian side over the
past three months in order to soften the negative impact of the gas
price rise on our people. We have found a way for solving this problem,
and the Armenian government will adopt a final decision related to
this issue in the near future.
We intend to implement a major investment programme with Russia
related to the fifth block of the Razdan power plant. As a result,
the Armenian government will have enough funds to compensate people
for the gas price rise within three years. At the same time, the
unfinished block of the Razdan power plant will be built, which will
make it possible to lower prices in the future.
People should not worry because the retail gas price will increase
only by 10-15 per cent.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ARRIVES IN MOSCOW
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
5 Apr 06
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has arrived in Moscow on
a three-day visit within the framework of Year of Armenia in Russia,
ITAR-TASS news agency reported on 5 April. The agency quoted Russian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin as saying that ways to step
up economic cooperation between the constituent parts of the Russian
Federation and Armenia, joint antiterror efforts, collaboration in
international organizations and within the CIS, and Nagornyy Karabakh
settlement will be on the agenda of talks in Moscow.
As regards the Nagornyy Karabakh issue, Kamynin said Russia
“believes that the Armenian-Azerbaijani dialogue should be continued
at different levels, primarily at the level of the presidents of the
two countries”. “We proceed from the fact that the parties involved in
the conflict should themselves find a mutually acceptable solution,”
he said and added that Russia is ready to mediate both on a bilateral
basis and as a co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group and become a
guarantor of the reached agreements.

RUSSIAN COMPANIES SET TO BUY ARMENIAN TELECOM MONOPOLY – PAPER
Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
5 Apr 06
Text of Vaagn Akopyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak
on 5 April headlined “Russians buy ArmenTel”
The owner of 90 per cent of ArmenTel’s shares, OTE (Greece), has
officially announced that it is considering the possibility of
selling its share in the company. You can find this report on OTE’s
website. Moreover, the report names the possible advisor in the deal
– HSBC.
Last time OTE spoke about selling its ArmenTel share was four
years ago. But four years ago ArmenTel was in conflict with the
Armenian government and was in financial difficulties despite being a
monopoly. The company negotiated with several Russian companies but
rejected their offers. Some sources say that at the time Russians
offered as much as 100m dollars, while OTE wanted 200m at least. So,
the negotiations failed, and it seemed OTE had given up the idea of
selling ArmenTel. But now it turns out that its plan was to revive
the company and sell it on better terms.
Sources close to the Armenian government say that this plan may
become a reality very shortly. The point is that a Russian company
is reported to have offered OTE 400m euros. Obviously, this deal is
politically motivated but it is also economically profitable. Last
year ArmenTel made a profit of 119.1m euros. Thus, it is worthwhile
paying 400m euros for the company. Among the potential buyers are
[Russia’s] Beeline and Megafone.
As far as the daily knows, OTE executives visited Armenia some 10
days ago to meet Armenian Transport and Communications Minister
Andranik Manukyan and to tell him, as a representative of the owner
of ArmenTel’s 10-per-cent share, about their plans to sell their
share. The law on joint-stock companies says that if the Armenian
government wants, it can buy the share itself. Manukyan reported
the news to Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan who called
a cabinet meeting and said that the possible sale of ArmenTel to a
Russian company was bad. In fact, ArmenTel is even more important
than the power grid. If it also goes to a Russian company, Russia
will get full control over Armenia’s economy. Markaryan said that the
deal could not be prevented, but in fact, this can be done. Simply,
if Armenia does so, it will have political problems with Russia.
Legally the deal can become a possibility only if Armenia gives its
written consent to it. If the government decides that the deal is
against Armenia’s interests, it can block the deal. But as you may
know well, this is impossible, for the incumbent Armenian authorities
will hardly dare to openly oppose Russia.