Thursday, Tsarukian Bloc Won't Nominate Presidential Candidate . Satenik Kaghzvantsian Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian visits a new leisure center built by businessman Gagik Tsarukian (R) in Tsaghkadzor, 20Dec2017. Businessman Gagik Tsarukian said on Thursday that his political alliance will not nominate a candidate for the post of Armenia's next president who will be elected by parliament in March. He argued that the Tsarukian Bloc lacks the majority of seats in the National Assembly controlled by President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). "If we have 31 deputies but need [the support of] 75 ones, why should we field [a candidate?]" Tsarukian told reporters in Gyumri. "We will never dilute our political weight." Under the Armenian constitution controversially amended in 2015, the next head of state must be chosen one month before President Serzh Sarkisian completes his second and final term in early April. The end of his decade-long rule will be followed by the country's transition to a parliamentary system of government. It means that Sarkisian's successor will have largely ceremonial powers. The opposition Yelk alliance announced last week that it wants to nominate one of its senior members, Artak Zeynalian, for the job and will try to secure the Tsarukian Bloc's backing for his candidacy. The constitution stipulates that only those individuals who are backed by at least 27 members of the 105-seat parliament can run for president. Yelk holds only 9 parliament seats. Armenia - Gagik Tsarukian talks to journalists in Gyumri, 28Dec2017. Tsarukian gave no indications that his bloc will back the Yelk candidate. "That paper [from Yelk] hasn't yet reached me," he said before telling reporters to change the subject. The Tsarukian Bloc, which finished second in the April 2017 parliamentary elections, claims to be in opposition to the government. But the influential tycoon and his loyalists have been careful not to attack President Sarkisian in their public statements. Visiting Armenia's second largest city, Tsarukian also announced that he will donate 100 million drams ($206,000) to low-income Gyumri residents so that they can spend more on the upcoming celebrations of the New Year's and Christmas holidays in their homes. "For us the greatest asset is people," said one of the country's richest men. "We have to appreciate our people." Tsarukian was greeted by hundreds of such people outside Gyumri's main cathedral undergoing protracted repairs. Many of them handed him letters asking for financial assistance. Investment Fund Denies Any Input From Tycoon Sanctioned By U.S. . Sisak Gabrielian Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian (R) and Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetian announce the creation of a Russian-Armenian investment fund in Yerevan, 25Mar2017. A Russian-Armenian fund planning major business projects in Armenia insisted on Thursday that it has not received any investments from a controversial businessman blacklisted by the United States for his alleged ties to organized crime. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions on the ethnic Armenian businessman Ruben Tatulian and nine other Russian nationals late last week. The department's Office of Financial Assets Control (OFAC) accused them of involvement in "serious transnational criminal activities." Tatulian was among three dozen Russian-Armenian entrepreneurs who issued a joint statement in January voicing support for Prime Minister Karen Karapetian. They also pledged to join an investment fund which one of them, the Moscow-based billionaire Samvel Karapetian (no relation to Karen), set up afterwards. The fund, called the Investors Club of Armenia (ICA), formally began its operations this spring. The ICA's managing company, Fora Capital, is controlled by Samvel Karapetian. In written comments to RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), Fora Capital's Yerevan-based executive director, Paruyr Amirjanyan, said neither Tatulian nor any other Russian-Armenian businessman has invested in the ICA so far. He said the fund will need large-scale investments only after completing ongoing preparations for the launch of its first projects in Armenia. "The fund's shareholders have not been registered to date," wrote Amirjanyan. Amirjanyan also said that only those individuals who have no criminal records and have not been involved in money laundering or terrorism financing will be able to invest in the ICA. An Armenian deputy minister for economic development said in May that Tatulian is one of 30 "members" of the ICA. However, a spokesman for Prime Minister Karapetian flatly denied this on Monday. The premier promoted the ICA during its official presentation held in Yerevan in March. He said it will attract "healthy and long-term investments" in the Armenian economy. Samvel Karapetian also attended and spoke at the event. Armenia - Top executives of The Robbins Company and Debed Hydro sign a memorandum of understanding in Yerevan, 25Oct2017. According to Amirjanyan, the fund is currently preparing for the launch of its first two projects. "Given the complexity and scale of the projects, [the preparations] will continue for another 10-14 months," he said. One of them is the construction of a major hydroelectric plant on the Debed river flowing through Armenia's northern Lori province. The ICA has so far pledged to invest $22.5 million in the $150 million project. It hopes to attract the rest of the required funding from other private investors as well as international lending institutions. The Robbins Company, a U.S. manufacturer of giant tunnel-boring machines, announced in October its intention to participate in the planned work on the 76-megawatt facility. Its president, Lok Home, signed a relevant memorandum of understanding with an energy firm owned by Samvel Karapetian in Yerevan. Energy Minister Ashot Manukian and U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills were also present at the signing ceremony. Robbins would become a second U.S. company involved in the Armenian energy sector. Armenian Sports Ministry Accused Of Disrespecting Mkhitaryan . Anna Israelian Armenia - Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the national football team captain, speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, 4Oct2017. The head of Armenia's Football Federation on Thursday condemned the Armenian Ministry of Sports for having for years refused to recognize soccer star Henrikh Mkhitaryan as one of the country's best athletes. The ministry awards and honors the top ten Armenian athletes each year. Until this year they were supposedly chosen by sports journalists working for various media outlets. Mkhitaryan repeatedly did not make the cut despite his global fame and huge popularity at home. The 28-year-old attacking midfielder plays for Manchester United, one of the world's most prestigious clubs. He is also the captain of Armenia's national football team. His failure to win the annual awards raised serious questions about the fairness and transparency of the selection process, forcing the ministry to change its rules earlier this year. The winners of the 2017 awards were decided not only by reporters but also ordinary Armenians voting by text message. Armenia - Gagik Tsarukian, chairman of the National Olympic Committee, hands awards to prominent Armenian athletes at an annual ceremony near Yerevan, 27Dec2017. Thanks to the popular vote, Mkhitaryan scored more points than any other sportsmen nominated for the awards. Three-times world wrestling champion Artur Aleksanyan and chess grandmaster Levon Aronian came in second and third respectively. The Ministry of Sports did not single out Mkhitaryan when it published the results of this year's contest on its website. It only listed the names of the ten athletes in alphabetical order. "The best athletes were chosen by the public, not the chairman of the weightlifting federation or the sports minister," Ruben Hayrapetian, the Football Federation chairman, told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) in an interview. Hayrapetian denounced the previous contests as a "farce." "For at least four or five years our national sports bosses pocketed Henrikh Mkhitaryan's chances of being chosen among the ten best athletes," he charged. Armenia - Ruben Hayrapetian (L), the Armenian Football Federation chairman, and attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan talk during a training session in Yerevan, 25Mar2015. Hayrapetian dismissed arguments that unlike Armenia footballers, wrestlers, boxers, weightlifters and chess players have won medals in European and world championships. "Mkhitaryan has made Armenia much more recognizable than other athletes," he said, arguing that football is by far the most popular spot around the world. The current ministers of sports and youth affairs, Hrachya Rostomian, is widely regarded as a figure very close to Gagik Tsarukian, a wealthy businessman heading the Armenian National Olympic Committee. Tsarukian and Hayrapetian have a long history of mutual dislike and feud. Press Review "168 Zham" carries an interview with Prime Minister Karen Karapetian in which he discusses the economic situation in Armenia, his government's efforts to improve it and his political future. He cautions against expectations of drastic economic betterment in the next one or two years. "The most noteworthy thing is that for the first time Karapetian openly stated that the uncertainty over who will be prime minister in 2018 is negatively affecting the economy and business," comments "Zhamanak." The paper wonders "what Karen Karapetian wants after all." "Does he want Serzh Sarkisian to say something and end the uncertainty and thereby send positive signals to business?" it says. "Does he just want to blame the uncertainty created by Serzh Sarkisian for the absence of tangible progress in the economic situation?" In a yearend commentary on the main political events of 2017, "Aravot" mentions irregularities that were reported during the April 2 parliamentary elections. "Although the authorities said the elections were one step forward the final report by the OSCE/ODIHR noted that credible information about vote buying and pressure on voters cast a shadow on them," the paper says. Switching to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the paper points to the October meeting of Armenia's and Azerbaijan's presidents held in Geneva. It says although agreements reached by them are kept secret the meeting was "important" in itself as it prevented serious ceasefire violations. In an article published by Lragir.am, political analyst Mikael Zolian says Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian has so far failed to substantiate his controversial concept of "nation-army" which he put forward immediately after taking office in October 2016. "The public has not yet seen a strategy for `nation-army,'" he writes. "So it is hard to judge on which principles it is based and what sequence of actions it envisages. For the moment, the most visible manifestation of the `nation-army' notion is a sharp increase in militaristic rhetoric." (Anush Mkrtchian) 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