Armenian National Team Eyes Krasnodar’s Spertsyan, Lokomotiv’s Tiknizyan Amid Russia’s Ban

Feb 27 2024

Amidst Russia's ongoing suspension from international football tournaments, the Armenian national team has identified an opportunity to bolster its squad with talents like Krasnodar midfielder Eduard Spertsyan and Lokomotiv defender Nair Tiknizyan. Roman Berezovsky, the goalkeepers coach for the Armenian squad, recently highlighted the potential benefits for both the players and the national team, considering the current landscape of international football.

With Russia's football teams sidelined from international play, Armenian coach Berezovsky sees a silver lining. By integrating players of Armenian descent who are currently underutilized due to the ban, the national team could see significant improvements. Berezovsky particularly praised Spertsyan and Tiknizyan, noting their potential to elevate the team's performance. This strategy not only aids the national team but also offers the players a chance to showcase their talents on a larger stage, possibly attracting attention from European clubs.

For players like Spertsyan and Tiknizyan, joining the Armenian national team could be a watershed moment in their careers. With Russia's exclusion from international competitions, opportunities to play at a high level are scarce. Berezovsky emphasized the brevity of football careers and the importance of seizing such opportunities. This move could serve as a springboard for the players, potentially leading to contracts with European clubs and enhancing their professional trajectory.

While the inclusion of Spertsyan and Tiknizyan in the Armenian national team seems promising, it also presents logistical and regulatory challenges. Negotiations, eligibility criteria, and adaptation to a new team dynamic are hurdles that need careful navigation. However, the potential benefits for both the players and Armenia's national football program make these challenges worth tackling. As the team anticipates the integration of these talents, the broader implications for Armenia's international football standings loom large, signaling a possible shift in the team's competitive edge.

The Armenian national team's strategic move to incorporate players affected by Russia's international suspension underscores a nimble approach to team building and talent development. For Spertsyan and Tiknizyan, this could mark the beginning of a new chapter in their careers, one that carries the hopes of a nation eager to make its mark on the international football stage.

https://bnnbreaking.com/sports/armenian-national-team-eyes-krasnodars-spertsyan-lokomotivs-tiknizyan-amid-russias-ban

Alashkert’s Striking 6-0 Victory Over BKMA: Desire and Martini Shine in Armenian Premier League

Feb 27 2024

In an electrifying match of the Armenian Premier League's 22nd round, Alashkert Football Club showcased their dominance with a commanding 6-0 win against BKMA. The game, marked by exceptional performances from Haitian forward Jonel Desire and Brazilian forward Gustavo Martini, who netted two goals each, has stirred the league standings and highlighted the competitive spirit within Armenia's top football league.

The match's outcome was significantly influenced by the prowess of Alashkert's forwards. Jonel Desire opened the scoring spree with two consecutive goals in the first half, setting a robust foundation for Alashkert's victory. Gustavo Martini followed suit with another pair of goals in the second half, leaving BKMA's defense struggling to regain composure. An unfortunate auto-goal by BKMA defender Norayr Nikoghosyan further widened the scoring gap, and Portuguese forward Agdon Menezes sealed the victory with a late goal. This collective effort not only exemplifies the team's offensive strength but also positions Alashkert as a formidable competitor in the league.

This remarkable victory has propelled Alashkert to the fourth position in the league standings, now tied in points with the reigning champions and cup winner, Urartu. However, it's worth noting that Urartu holds a game in hand, which could potentially alter the standings once played. On the other end, BKMA finds itself in the seventh spot, facing an uphill battle to climb the league table. The match's outcome not only reflects the individual and collective talents within Alashkert but also underscores the significance of every game in the tightly contested Armenian Premier League.

As the league progresses, the focus now shifts to how teams will adjust their strategies and line-ups in response to the current standings. Alashkert's resounding victory serves as a testament to their potential and ambition in the ongoing season. Meanwhile, for BKMA, the defeat poses a challenge to regroup and strategize for the remainder of the league. The Armenian Premier League continues to captivate football fans with its unpredictability and high level of competition, promising more thrilling matches ahead.

The recent clash between Alashkert and BKMA, highlighted by standout performances and significant implications for the league table, has undoubtedly set the stage for an intense finish to the season. With teams vying for supremacy in Armenia's top football competition, the coming weeks are poised to deliver more action-packed encounters and potential shifts in the league hierarchy.

https://bnnbreaking.com/sports/alashkerts-striking-6-0-victory-over-bkma-desire-and-martini-shine-in-armenian-premier-league

Vahakn N. Dadrian Archive Project: Digitizing a Legacy of Armenian Genocide Studies

Feb 27 2024

The Ararat-Eskijian Museum Research Center (AEMRC) and the Armenian Genocide Research Program (AGRP) at UCLA are embarking on an ambitious project to preserve and digitize the extensive archive of Professor Vahakn N. Dadrian, a seminal figure in Armenian Genocide studies. This initiative aims to make Dadrian's invaluable collection of documents, books, and unpublished manuscripts accessible to researchers and the public worldwide.

With a collection that spans over 110,000 pages, including materials in various languages from archives around the globe, the project faced a monumental task. By 2018, approximately 28,000 pages were digitized, a process significantly accelerated by a generous grant received in 2023. Housed at the University of Southern California's Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library, the collection has been accessible by appointment. Efforts are now focused on enhancing digital accessibility, spearheaded by Professor Taner Akçam and Dr. Anna Aleksanyan, a postgraduate student actively involved in the digitization process.

The project's goal extends beyond preservation; it aims to facilitate research and education on the Armenian Genocide. By making the collection searchable through keywords, researchers worldwide will gain unprecedented access to primary sources and analyses. The completion of the digitization project, anticipated by December 2025, promises to transform the field of genocide studies, offering new insights into the Armenian Genocide's origins, execution, and aftermath.

The Vahakn N. Dadrian Archive Project not only honors the legacy of a pioneering scholar but also ensures that future generations have the resources to study the Armenian Genocide in depth. The AGRP's upcoming webinar this spring will offer further details on the project, marking an important step in genocide education and research. The Ararat-Eskijian Museum, founded by genocide survivor Luther Eskijian, continues its mission as a cultural and educational center, with the Dadrian Archive Project serving as a testament to the enduring importance of documenting and understanding history.

Calls grow in Armenia for Russians to relinquish control of borders

POLITICO
Feb 27 2024
Relations between Yerevan and Moscow continue to deteriorate.

A senior Armenian official wants Russian border guards to leave the Zvartnots Airport near Yerevan as it has been “proven several times they do not protect” the national border.

“What did they do when they [the Azerbaijanis] came to Nagorno-Karabakh? Did they escort the Armenian people out? Did they protect them?” said Armenia’s parliament speaker Alen Simonyan on Tuesday, about Baku’s lightning offensive to capture the breakaway region last September.

No official decision has been announced yet on kicking the Russians out.

It comes as relations between Yerevan and Moscow deteriorate, with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last week announcing the country was suspending its membership of the Russia-led military alliance of former Soviet countries, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Russia’s border guard service forms a part of the FSB’s (one of the KGB successors) structures. They are present in Zvartnots through the Russia-Armenia agreement of 1992, which does not specify the roles of Russian border guards but says they can use airports for transportation needs.

Armenian NGOs have reported that Russia’s FSB has violated the agreement by conducting a kidnapping and leaking data.

Denis Leven is hosted at POLITICO under the EU-funded EU4FreeMedia residency program.

 

Armenpress: Macron does not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine

 10:15,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. President Emmanuel Macron of France said “nothing should be ruled out” after he was asked about the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine, The New York Times reports.

Mr. Macron, speaking on Feb. 26, after a meeting of European leaders in Paris to bolster support for Ukraine, stressed that the talks had not resulted in any consensus on putting troops on the ground “in an official, approved and endorsed way.” But he insisted that “anything is possible if it is useful to reach our goal,” which he said was to ensure that “Russia cannot win this war.”

His statements were a stark departure from the usual caution that Western leaders — including Mr. Macron himself — have exercised. They have repeatedly said that they want to avoid escalating the conflict and previously ruled out sending any ground troops to Ukraine.

Ahead of the conference, Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia warned that some Western countries were considering sending soldiers to Ukraine, adding that he opposed the idea.

Mr. Macron did not explicitly say which countries supported or rejected such an option.

“I won’t dispel the ambiguity of tonight’s debates by naming names,” he said. “I’m saying that it was mentioned among the options.”

The gathering of nearly 30 heads of state and top officials drew officials mostly from European countries, including Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

The conflict in Ukraine has been ongoing for two years. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Feb. 25 that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during the two years of war, acknowledging for the first time a concrete figure for Ukraine’s toll in the war. But, according to The New York Times, his tally is far lower than U.S. estimates, which put the death toll about 70,000.

Kremlin warns of conflict with NATO if alliance troops fight in Ukraine

 16:04,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. The Kremlin warned that conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would be inevitable if European members of NATO sent troops to fight in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron opened the door on Feb. 26 to European nations sending troops to Ukraine, although he cautioned that there was no consensus at this stage. Macron said that nothing should be excluded as the West looked for a strategy to counter Russia.

"The very fact of discussing the possibility of sending certain contingents to Ukraine from NATO countries is a very important new element," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about Macron's remarks.

Asked by reporters about the risks if NATO members sent their troops to fight in Ukraine, Peskov said: "In that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability (of a direct conflict)."

Peskov said that the West should ask themselves if such a scenario was in the interests of their countries and their peoples.

Stoltenberg says NATO has no plans to send troops to Ukraine

 16:37,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told The Associated Press that the military alliance has no plans to send combat troops into Ukraine amid statements and reports that some Western countries may be considering sending troops to the war-ravaged country.

Stoltenberg said that “NATO allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine”.

“We have done that since 2014 and stepped up after the full-scale invasion. But there are no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine,” he added.

President Emmanuel Macron of France speaking on Feb. 26, after a meeting of European leaders in Paris to bolster support for Ukraine, stressed that the talks had not resulted in any consensus on putting troops on the ground “in an official, approved and endorsed way.” But he insisted that “anything is possible.”

Ahead of the conference, Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia warned that some Western countries were considering sending soldiers to Ukraine, adding that he opposed the idea.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala also declined to comment, but he underlined that “the Czech Republic certainly doesn’t want to send its soldiers to Ukraine.”

Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland also said on Feb. 27 that “Poland does not plan to send its troops to Ukraine.”

The Kremlin warned that conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would be inevitable if European members of NATO sent troops to fight in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Scholz rules out Western ground troops for Ukraine

 17:19,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has ruled out suggestions that European countries and NATO alliance members would send ground troops to Ukraine, a day after French President Emmanuel Macron had raised the prospect that some might do so.

German lawmakers also spoke out against the idea, and the Kremlin warned that conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would be inevitable if European members of NATO sent troops to fight in Ukraine.

“Once again, in a very good debate, it was discussed that what was agreed from the outset among ourselves and with each other also applies to the future, namely that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states,” Scholz said on the sidelines of an event on Feb. 27.

Scholz did, however, say that European leaders now appeared willing to procure weapons from third countries outside Europe as a way of speeding up military aid to Ukraine.

Macron announces new coalition to send Ukraine medium- and long-range missiles

 11:51,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Feb. 26 that a new coalition will work to supply Ukraine with medium- and long-range missiles and bombs, Le Monde reports.

After a summit on Ukraine held in Paris, President Macron said at a press conference that France and other allies of Ukraine will “create a coalition for deep strikes and therefore medium- and long-range missiles and bombs.”

Ukraine has long appealed to allies for long-range weapons, but fears of escalation with Moscow have prevented Western partners from readily transferring the weapons, according to Kyiv Independent.

France has already supplied Ukraine with long-range SCALP missiles that can travel up to 250 kilometers.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Feb. 24, two years after Russia launched military operations in Ukraine, that Kyiv will not use long-range missile systems to strike targets in Russia.

Russia to ban gasoline exports for 6 months from March 1

 11:14,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. The Russian government plans to introduce a temporary ban on gasoline exports for six months from March 1, 2024 in order to offset the growth in demand in the spring and summer, TASS reports citing Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak’s representative.

“I confirm that,” he said, commenting on the reports in the media about the ban.

The temporary export ban does not apply to the Eurasian Economic Union countries, as well as Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

In September, 2023 Russia introduced a ban on fuel exports – except to Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – in order to tackle high domestic prices and shortages. Almost all the restrictions were subsequently removed by November.