Friday, January 26, 2017 Russian Envoy Details New Deal On Karabakh Truce Monitoring January 26, 2018 Armenia - OSCE observers escorted by Armenian army officers monitor the ceasefire regime in Tavush province bordering Azerbaijan, 16Feb, 2017 The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is to deploy seven more ceasefire monitors in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone under an Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement finalized last week, a senior Russian negotiator said on Friday. The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers agreed in principle to expand an OSCE mission monitoring the ceasefire regime along the Karabakh "line of contact" and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border when they met Krakow, Poland on January 18. The measure designed to prevent truce violations was proposed by the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group and backed by Armenia. Azerbaijan has been reluctant to accept it until now. "There are some technical details that still need to be worked out," the group's Russian co-chair, Igor Popov, told the Azerbaijani APA news agency. He said the OSCE mission will be boosted by an "additional seven observers." The existing, largely symbolic mission headed by a Polish diplomat, Andrzej Kasprzyk, is similar in size. Its members travel to Karabakh and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border once or twice a month to briefly monitor the parties' compliance with truce agreements reached in 1994 and 1995. The tentative agreement on the expansion of Kasprzyk's team reflects some progress that seems to have been made in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks in the last few months. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov met twice, in the presence of the mediators, after an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit held in Geneva in October. Popov said that he and the fellow co-chairs from the United States and France will again visit Baku and Yerevan early next month for further discussions on the proposed measures to minimize truce violations. He said they also expect to "ascertain" the conflicting parties' positions on details of a Karabakh peace plan put forward by the mediators. "We are making efforts to propose to Baku and Yerevan variants acceptable to them and this is what we will be talking about in the region," said the Russian envoy. In a joint statement issued in Krakow on January 18, the three Minsk Group co-chairs said they discussed with Nalbandian and Mammadyarov "core sensitive issues contained in the working proposals currently on the table." They did not disclose those issues. Popov also told APA that it is too early to say whether Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev might been again soon. Sarkisian will complete his final presidential term on April 9. He may well remain in power as Armenia's prime minister. Jailed Oppositionists To Testify At Another Trial January 26, 2018 . Karlen Aslanian Armenia - The trial of opposition leader Zhirayr Sefilian and other men accused of plotting an armed revolt in Yerevan, 19 Januay 2018. The two arrested leaders of an armed opposition group that seized an Armenian police station in 2016 will testify at the ongoing trial of Zhirayr Sefilian, their prominent comrade prosecuted separately, a court in Yerevan said on Friday. Sefilian, who is the top leader of the Founding Parliament radical opposition movement, was arrested in June 2016 on charges of plotting an armed revolt against the government. He also stands accused of planning to organize "mass disturbances" in Yerevan during the April 2015 official commemorations of the centenary of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Sefilian denies the charges as politically motivated. He and several other men went on trial last May. Sefilian was taken into custody less than a month before three dozen members and supporters of Founding Parliament seized a police compound in Yerevan's Erebuni district to demand his release and President Serzh Sarkisian's resignation. The gunmen led by Varuzhan Avetisian and Pavlik Manukian laid down their weapons after a two-week standoff with security forces which left three police officers dead. They are standing three separate trials. Sefilian's lawyers petitioned a district court in Yerevan to summon Avetisian and Manukian for questioning at his trial. The presiding judge, Tatevik Grigorian, granted the request, saying that the two men could shed more light on the riots that were allegedly planned by Sefilian. Grigorian ruled that they will be questioned as witnesses at the next court hearing. According to the prosecutors, Avetisian and Manukian were aware of Sefilian's alleged preparations for the street violence. It is not clear whether Sefilian will be able to put questions to his comrades. The Lebanese-born oppositionist has been frequently expelled from the courtroom for contempt of court. The judge twice refused to allow him to attend Friday's hearing. Armenian Opposition Insists On Tax Cuts January 26, 2018 . Astghik Bedevian Armenia - Leaders of the opposition Yelk alliance hold an anti-government rally in Yerevan, 19Jan2018. The opposition Yelk alliance said on Friday that it will continue to campaign for the scrapping of new government-drafted legislation that raised income taxes for Armenians earning well above the average wage in the country. A Yelk parliamentarian, Gevorg Gorgisian, said it will table amendments that would restore income tax rates that were in force until January 1. "We are now working on a draft bill and it will again be circulated [in the parliament,]" Gorgisian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). He said the bill would also reverse increases in taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol which also took effect on January 1. In addition, Yelk will hold more demonstrations in Yerevan in support of its demands, added Gorgisian. The controversial changes made to Armenia's Tax Code raised from 26 percent to 28 percent the tax rate for monthly incomes ranging from 150,000 to 2 million drams ($310-$4,150). The rate for those Armenians who earn more was set at 36 percent. The amended code at the same time cut the tax rate from 24.4 percent to 23 percent for workers making less than 150,000 drams a month. Government officials insist that the more progressive tax will put a heavier financial burden only on high-income individuals. They argue that 90 percent of employed Armenians, who make between 150,000 and 280,000 drams, will not have any additional sums deducted from their wages because of a complex method of income calculation. And those who earn from 280,000 to 330,000 drams will pay an extra amount of only up to 820 drams ($1.7) a month, the say. The average monthly wage in Armenia stood at almost 188,000 drams ($390) as of November 2017, official statistics show. Khosrov Harutiunian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on economic issues, dismissed opposition claims that the higher taxes will hit the middle class hard. He too argued that 90 percent of working-age people will not be negatively affected by them. Accordingly, Harutiunian, who represents the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), rejected the Yelk demands. He said the parliament majority might only agree to an even more progressive tax that would mean lower rates for wages not exceeding 150,000 drams and higher rates for much higher incomes. Yelk leaders pressed their demands for tax cuts when they rallied hundreds of supporters in Yerevan last week in protest against recent increases in the prices of fuel and some foodstuffs. The opposition bloc blamed the fuel price hikes on the new Tax Code. The authorities claim to be trying to ease the impact of the increased prices. Harutiunian and another senior HHK lawmaker plan to introduce a bill lowering a major tax collected from public transport companies. It is aimed at discouraging them from raising bus and minibus fares. In a related development, the Agriculture Ministry announced on Thursday that the government will subsidize the price of diesel fuel widely used by farmers across the country. Gorgisian dismissed these measures as "cosmetic." Yelk, which holds 9 seats in the 105-member parliament, will hold its next anti-government rally on February 5. Diaspora Philanthropist Makes $10m Donation To Armenian Army January 26, 2018 Armenia - Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian inspects medical equipment donated by Armenian-American philanthropist Mike Sarian, 25Jan2018. A U.S. philanthropist of Armenian descent has donated modern medical equipment and supplies worth about $10 million to Armenia's armed forces, according to the Defense Ministry in Yerevan. The ministry reported late on Thursday that the lavish donation by Mike Sarian includes large quantities of nearly 100 items, including X-ray and artificial respiration systems, ultrasound machines and other medical diagnostic equipment. In a statement, it said Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian inspected them during a visit to the central warehouse of the Armenian army's medical service. The donated aid will be distributed to the country's military hospitals. Some of it will also be provided to civilian medical institutions in towns and villages close to Armenia's border with Azerbaijan, added the statement. U.S. - Armenian-American philanthropist Mike Sarian, 5 May 2017. Sarian is the president of Hospital Operations for Prime Healthcare Services, an American hospital company based in California. He has more than 25 years of executive management experience in healthcare in the United States. Sarian has regularly contributed large sums to Armenian-American charities, schools and churches. In 2014, he donated through his company $2 million worth of medical equipment to over a dozen hospitals in Armenia. Press Review January 26, 2018 "Haykakan Zhamanak" comments on an attempted Azerbaijani military incursion reported by the Nagorno-Karabakh military on Thursday, saying that it has more political than military implications. "In that sense, it even plays into the Armenian side's hands," writes the paper. "We would have certainly not been able to draw such a conclusion had the Karabakh army suffered casualties while repelling Azerbaijani special forces." "Zhoghovurd" says the incident followed the delivery to Azerbaijan of a new batch of Russian weapons, mainly armored personnel carriers. "I don't know on what terms Azerbaijan buys weapons from Russia," Vladimir Kazimirov, Russia's chief Karabakh negotiator from 1992-1996, tells the paper. "At any rate, Azerbaijan's leadership should bear in mind that Russia and Armenia cooperate very closely. It is nave to hope to solve the Artsakh issue with a single local military operation." Such an "adventure" would have negative consequences for Baku, says Kazimirov. "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" dismisses Central Bank Governor Artur Javadian's assertion that the price of butter in Armenia rose sharply last year because of increased global demand that stems from recent international research suggesting that butter is a healthier foodstuff than cooking oil. The paper argues that the price of oil has not fallen as a result. "Sugar also has not become cheaper even though that product is often called `sweet death,'" it says. "Hraparak" says that President Serzh Sarkisian's speech at the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) coincided with the publication of a government bill on the structure and powers of a new Armenian cabinet that will be formed after the end of his final term in April. The paper says this is a further indication that Sarkisian will become prime minister. (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org