Tuesday, More Corruption Charges Brought Against Armenian Judge . Naira Bulghadarian Armenia - A courtroom in Yerevan, 8Jun2017. An Armenian law-enforcement agency has brought more charges of corruption against a senior judge who was arrested two months ago, it emerged on Tuesday State prosecutors said in early June that Aghvan Petrosian, the chairman of a court in Armenia's Gegharkunik province, was paid $23,000 to give a suspended prison sentence to a young man prosecuted for a 2014 violent assault. The lenient sentence was subsequently struck down by the Court of Appeals in Yerevan and sent back to the Gegharkunik court. The 45-year-old Petrosian and another judge, Vanik Vartanian, were also charged in June with accepting $2,500 in exchange for an "illegal verdict" in a property dispute involving Gegharkunik residents. The ruling was handed down by Vartanian. Both judges were taken into custody. The Special Investigative Service (SIS), which is conducting the corruption probe, now claims that Petrosian was also paid another kickback worth $30,000. Petrosian's lawyer, Armen Melkonian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that his client is denying the bribery charges and refusing to cooperate with SIS investigators. He declined to comment further. Vartanian, the other arrested judge, has also denied any wrongdoing. "We believe that the criminal case was opened without legal grounds," said his lawyer, Ruben Hakobian. Hakobian said that the main piece of evidence in the corruption case is audio of a secretly recorded conversation that took place in Petrosian's office. He insisted that the recording does not prove the bribery alleged by the SIS. At least two other Armenian judges have been prosecuted on similar charges recently. One of them, Ishkhan Barseghian, was allegedly caught red-handed in October while being paid $1,000 by a citizen. Barseghian, who served in a district court in Yerevan for 20 years, pleaded not guilty when he went on trial in April. Another judge was charged with taking a $600 bribe in May. He worked in the court of general jurisdiction of the Ararat and Vayots Dzor provinces. Corruption within Armenia's judicial system, which has undergone frequent structural changes over the past two decades, is widely believed to be endemic. The country's former human rights ombudsman, Karen Andreasian, highlighted the problem in a 2013 report that accused judges of routinely taking bribes. The report based on confidential interviews with lawyers, judges and prosecutors singled out the Court of Cassation, the highest body of criminal justice. Both the court and an Armenian government body monitoring the judiciary denied the allegations. Yerevan Seeks Russian Recognition Of Armenian Driving Licenses . Aza Babayan Kazakhstan - Prime Ministers Dmitry Medvedev (L) of Russia, Andrey Kobyakov (C) of Belarus and Karen Karapetian of Armenia arrive for a meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarabyev in Astana, 14Aug2017. Prime Minister Karen Karapetian has reportedly objected to Russia's controversial decision to stop recognizing the validity of driving licenses issued by Armenia at a meeting with his counterparts from other Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states. A Russian law which took effect on June 1 banned foreign nationals with driving licenses issued by their home countries from working as drivers in Russia. The Russian parliament subsequently waived the restriction for citizens of those countries, including EEU members Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, where the Russian language has an official legal status. Armenia is not one of those countries, meaning that a large number of its migrant workers driving trucks, taxis and other vehicles in Russia now risk losing their jobs. The Armenian parliament speaker, Ara Babloyan, discussed the matter with his Russian counterpart, Vyacheslav Volodin, when they met in Moscow in July. Volodin suggested that Armenia adopt Russian as its second official language in order to circumvent the ban. Volodin's remark caused outrage in Yerevan, with local opposition politicians, media commentators and intellectuals accusing Moscow of meddling in Armenia's internal affairs. According to Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Bakitzhan Sagintayev, Karapetian raised the issue at Monday's meeting in Astana of the prime ministers of the five EEU member states, including Russia's Dmitry Medvedev. Sagintayev reportedly hinted that Moscow will address Yerevan's concerns. A statement released by the Armenian government listed "mutual recognition of national and international driving licenses" among issues on the agenda of the Astana meeting. It did not elaborate. Medvedev also held separate talks with Karapetian in the Kazakh capital. The Armenian premier said at the meeting that Medvedev will visit Yerevan later this year. Russian Plane Joins Firefighting Efforts In Armenia . Artak Hambardzumian Armenia - A wildfire in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve, 14Aug2017. A Russian firefighting plane dropped on Tuesday more than 200 tons of water on a nature reserve in Armenia engulfed by one of the country's worst wildfires in decades. The Russian government dispatched the Ilyushin-72 heavy aircraft at the request of Armenian authorities struggling to contain the blaze that broke out in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve on Saturday. The special plane capable of carrying 42 tons of water at a time carried out six flights from an airbase in Yerevan to the mountainous area southeast of the Armenian capital throughout the day. The Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations said the water dropped by it had a "considerable" impact on its continuing efforts to contain the fire. It said the aerial firefighting operation will resume on Wednesday morning. As the Russian plane flew over burning trees, bushes and other vegetation dozens of Armenian firefighters, joined by over a hundred army soldiers and 55 forestry workers, waited on the ground for the resumption of their firefighting efforts. Armenia - A Russian firefighting plane is filled with water at the Erebuni airbase in Yerevan, 14Aug2017. "Nobody is allowed to enter the reserve until the plane finishes its work," Mushegh Ghazarian, the chief of the national Rescue Service, explained at the scene. He cited safety reasons. Ghazarian coordinated the ground operation and communicated with Minister for Emergency Situations Davit Tonoyan through a radio in the presence of reporters. "Black smoke has turned white," he told Tonoyan when asked about the first results of the Ilyushin-72 flights. "Mr. Minister, if they continue like this we will finish the job." Earlier in the day, President Serzh Sarkisian held an emergency meeting with Tonoyan and other officials involved in the effort. "I want to thank those people and structures that are battling the fire," he said at the meeting. "And special thanks to our Russian partners who quickly responded to our request and are now actively involved in this important work." Armenia - Trees in the Khosrov Forest State Reserve burned by a wildfire, 14Aug2017. The Khosrov reserve encompasses roughly 25,000 hectares of land, around 9,000 of which is covered with forests originally planted by a 4th century Armenian king, Khosrov III. Officials said on Tuesday that the fire has already destroyed about 400 hectares of woodland. Some environment protection groups have blamed the Rescue Service and other divisions of Tonoyan's ministry for the scale of the damage, saying that the authorities were not prepared for coping with such a calamity. Ministry officials reject the criticism. They argue that the mountainous terrain makes is practically impossible for them to deploy fire engines near the blaze. The Khosrov reserve is also a major wild animal sanctuary. Ghazarian insisted that brown bears, wild boars, foxes, vultures and hundreds of other species inhabiting the area not in danger. "Animals are smarter than us," the Rescue Service chief told journalists. "They left the burning area long ago. We just need to save the trees." Press Review "Zhoghovurd" reports and comments on continuing wildfires in two Armenian forests. "As a result, quite serious damage has been inflicted on nature," writes the paper. "Decades will be needed to reverse the damage to the Khosrov Forest Reserve caused in the last few days. These wildfires have demonstrated that contrary to [emergency situations] ministry claims, the system is not prepared for emergencies # It is scary to even imagine what will happen if there is a real emergency in our country." "Environmentalists are bringing the Ministry for Emergency Situations to task," writes "Haykakan Zhamanak." "They criticize it for not taking preventing measures and lacking the equipment to deal with the continuing fires." Ministry officials counter, the paper says, that there have been no such massive wildfires in Armenia for the last 14 years, that the Khosrov forest terrain is extremely rugged and that the fire is fanned by strong winds. "The ministry's justifications are understandable," comments the paper. "Still, some questions do arise." In particular, it points to vague ministry warnings to citizens regarding how to prevent and cope with fires. Meanwhile, a ministry spokeswoman, Nana Gndoyan, assures "Aravot" that firefighters and other ministry divisions have "done everything" to contain the fires. She disagrees with claims that the ministry's decision to ask Russia to send a water-dropping plane to Armenia proves the opposite. Gndoyan argues that Russian emergency services themselves needed months to end wildfires across Russia. "A natural disaster is such that you can be properly prepared for coping with it but will struggle at some point," she goes on. "Hraparak" reports that the governing body of President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) will hold its first meeting after a summer recess. Sarkisian returned from vacation, reportedly spent in Germany, at the weekend. (Artur Papian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org