Friday, Russian Gas Cheaper Than Iranian, Says Armenian Minister . Astghik Bedevian A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Gulf Armenia imports the bulk of its natural gas from Russia because it is cheaper than gas supplied by neighboring Iran, Energy Infrastructures Minister Ashot Manukian insisted on Friday. Russia gas, which currently costs Armenia $150 per thousand cubic meters, meets more than 80 percent of the country's annual demand. The remaining gas imports come from Iran under a swap arrangement involving supplies of Armenian electricity to the Islamic Republic. "If a lower price is offered to us, we will definitely buy [more Iranian gas,]" Manukian told a news conference. Manukian said Prime Minister Karen Karapetian made this clear during an official visit to Tehran last week. In his words, Karapetian told Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh: "If you can give us gas at a lower price, we are ready to directly buy gas from you and partly abandon this [swap] deal." Iran - Iran's First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri (R) meets with Armenian Minister for Energy Infrastructures Ashot Manukian in Tehran, 5Dec2016. The gas-for-electricity exchange is due to be significantly expanded after the ongoing construction of a third power transmission line that will connect Armenia to Iran. A senior executive of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) claimed in August that Armenia would like to more than double Iranian gas imports even before the high-voltage line goes on stream in 2019. He made clear that the Armenian side would have to pay for extra supplies in cash and that they would cost Yerevan more than Russian gas does. Iranian media last week quoted the country's Deputy Oil Minister Amir-Hossein Zamaninia as saying that Karapetian also discussed in Tehran the possibility of Armenian imports of gas from Turkmenistan via Iran. Yerevan is interested in Turkmen gas because it would presumably be cheaper for Armenian than Iranian gas. Karapetian, who managed Armenia's Russian-owned gas distribution network from 2001-2010, declined to elaborate on his gas talks with Iranian leaders when he spoke to reporters in Gyumri on Wednesday. He said only that he returned from Iran with "very good and very promising projects." Yerevan `Still Committed' To Karabakh Talks Despite Truce Violation . Hovannes Movsisian Armenia - Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian (R) and his Polish counterpart Witold Waszczykowski at a joint news briefing in Yerevan, 20Oct2017 Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said on Friday that Armenia will not avoid further peace talks with Azerbaijan despite continuing ceasefire violations in Nagorno-Karabakh that left an Armenian soldier dead. The 19-year-old soldier, Tigran Khachatrian, was reportedly killed by Azerbaijani sniper fire on Thursday just three days after the latest meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents held in Geneva. Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev pledged to intensify the peace process and bolster the ceasefire regime in the Karabakh conflict zone. "We agreed to take measures to further ease tensions so that we have no casualties on the frontlines," the Armenian president said after the talks. The U.S., Russian and French mediators said in that regard that they will soon hold follow-up "working sessions" with Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. Reacting to the Armenian soldier's death later on Thursday, Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) accused Baku of "trying to walk away" from the Geneva understandings. Nalbandian also deplored the Azerbaijani truce violation when he spoke after talks in Yerevan with Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski. "Unfortunately, after the summit held in Geneva there have been various speculations by Baku, and ceasefire violations in the conflict zone are continuing, as a result of which an [Armenian] soldier was killed yesterday," Nalbandian told a joint news briefing. "My Polish counterpart and I agree that there is no alternative to a solely peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict based on principles of international law," he added. Nalbandian did not say when he and Mammadyarov will hold the planned meetings with the three mediators leading the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Karapetian Again Discusses Anti-Graft Measures With U.S. Envoy Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian (L) and U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills attend a celebration organized by the USAID mission in Yerevan, 12Oct2017. The U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Richard Mills, met with Prime Minister Karen Karapetian on Friday for further discussions on the Armenian government's stated efforts to combat endemic corruption in Armenia. Karapetian was reported to brief Mills on the government's "consistent policy" of reducing "corruption risks" through the enactment of relevant legislation and the "active work" of its Anti-Corruption Council. A government statement also cited him as calling for U.S. assistance to the council and his broader reform agenda. According to the statement, Mills praised the Armenia government's efforts to strengthen the rule of law and improve the business environment, saying that they have already increased U.S. investors' interests in Armenia. "He said that over the past 8-10 months he has received positive signals from American companies operating in Armenia especially with regard to ongoing reforms in the customs sector," added the statement. Mills urged the authorities in Yerevan to tackle corruption in earnest in a speech delivered in February. He said they should send a "clear message from on high that corruption will not be tolerated and that no one # is above the law." In that regard, the envoy suggested that the government set up a "fully independent anti-corruption body that can both investigate and prosecute cases." The authorities decided instead to form a different anti-graft body that will start functioning early next year. The Commission on Preventing Corruption is to scrutinize income and asset declarations to be submitted by over 2,000 senior state officials and investigate possible conflicts of interest among them. Under a government bill passed by the Armenian parliament in June, it will be empowered to ask law-enforcement bodies to prosecute officials suspected of graft. The separate Anti-Corruption Council was previously overseen by Karapetian's predecessor, Hovik Abrahamian. It approved in 2015 a three-year plan of actions against various corrupt practices. Despite skepticism voiced by many Armenian civil society members, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) pledged in February 2016 to support the program's implementation with a $750,000 grant. Mills said in February that the USAID has since allocated less than 2.5 percent of that money because of a lack of "concrete progress" in the work of that body. The USAID's current country director for Armenia, Deborah Grieser, was also present at Mills' latest meeting with Karapetian. Armenia ranked, together with Bolivia and Vietnam, 113th out of 176 countries evaluated in Transparency International's most recent Corruption Perceptions Index released in January. Press Review "Zhoghovurd" notes that an Armenian soldier was shot and killed by Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday just three days after the Armenian-Azerbaijani presidential meeting in Geneva. The paper says that Baku continues to violate the ceasefire despite President Ilham Aliyev's reported pledge to ease tensions on the frontlines. "The incident must first and foremost be a cause for concern for the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group," it says. "They must explicitly demand that Azerbaijan put an end to its unconstructive actions and attempts to torpedo the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process." "Zhamanak" urges Armenia and the European Union to issue "clear statements" to the effect that they will sign their Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) next month. "In case of its non-signing, it won't matter at all by how much it will be delayed and who is to blame for that," writes the paper. "Haykakan Zhamanak" scoffs at Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's remark that Armenians should "treat with patience" the latest rise in the prices of some foodstuffs and gasoline. The paper is unconvinced by Karapetian's and other officials' assurances that the price hikes were caused by external market factors. It argues that in September the price of sugar plummeted by more than 30 percent year on year in the international markets but rose by 3.4 percent in Armenia. Sugar imports to the country are controlled by Samvel Aleksanian, a pro-government wealthy businessman. "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" comments on the resignation of Portugal's interior minister which followed a series of deadly wildfires in the country. The paper suggests with sarcasm that he should have "followed his Armenian counterparts' example" and listed the quantity of equipment used for extinguishing the fires. (Tigran Avetisian) 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