Monday, 

Armenian Security Service Vows Anti-Corruption Sweep

        • Harry Tamrazian

Armenia - Artur Vanetsian, the new head of the National Security Service, meets 
with media representatives in Yerevan, 19 May 2018.

The new head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) claimed to have 
launched an unprecedented crackdown on government corruption, saying that 
individuals who have for years embezzled large amounts of public funds will be 
“held accountable” soon.

“In a short period of time you all will witness the exposure of people, who 
have enriched themselves through large-scale corruption schemes, and their 
being held accountable in a legal manner,” Artur Vanetsian told representatives 
of Armenian and foreign media outlets at the weekend. “It doesn’t mean that we 
will be resorting to some repressions or vengeance. Everything will be done 
publicly.”

“My approach is as follows: those people who have illegally enriched themselves 
must return those sums to the state budget, rather than go to jail,” he said.

Vanetsian declined to name any of the “persons who have stolen money from the 
state.” It was thus not clear whether any of them was a member of former 
President Serzh Sarkisian’s government or entourage.

In the same context, Vanetsian also spoke of another type of fraud detected by 
the NSS. “We have many cases where people don’t know that some company has been 
registered in their name, has engaged in business but hasn’t paid taxes,” he 
said. “We know of 350 such persons.”

“These are ordinary people living in harsh socioeconomic conditions who had 
their passports taken away for 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 drams ($10-40) and had 
companies registered in their name. You will hear about that very soon,” he 
added.

Vanetsian, 38, is a career NSS officer who was named to run the feared security 
agency on May 10 two days after the Armenian parliament voted to elect Nikol 
Pashinian as the country’s new prime minister. Pashinian has pledged, among 
other things, to “root out” endemic corruption in the country.

Vanetsian said that he received a blank cheque from the new premier to 
prosecute any state official engaged in corrupt practices. He claimed that 
corruption in Armenia has already declined considerably in the past ten days.

“According to my information, since the election of the prime minister 
traditionally corrupt structures have stopped their illegal activities,” 
Vanetsian said. He referred to “corruption chains” that have long existed 
within the country’s tax and customs services, judicial system and “some police 
units.”

In the past, the NSS has never played a central role in crackdowns on 
corruption declared by the previous Armenian governments. Those stated 
anti-graft efforts were dismissed as a gimmick by opposition politicians and 
civil society members.

Armenia ranked, together with Macedonia, Ethiopia and Vietnam, 107th out of 180 
countries and territories evaluated in Transparency International’s 2017 
Corruption Perceptions Index released in February.




Russia, Georgia Inch Closer To Key Transport Deal


Georgia - Armenian and other vehicles pass through the Upper Lars crossing with 
Russia, 5May2016.

Russia and Georgia appear to have moved a step closer to opening new 
Russian-Georgian transport corridors that would facilitate cargo shipments to 
and from Armenia.

Landlocked Armenia’s trade with Russia, its leading commercial partner, is 
mainly carried out through the sole Russian-Georgian border crossing at Upper 
Lars. Traffic along that mountainous road is periodically blocked by bad 
weather, especially in winter months.

The two other roads connecting Georgia and Russia pass through the breakaway 
Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They were closed even before 
the 2008 Russian-Georgian war and Moscow’s ensuing recognition of both regions 
as independent states.

In 2011, Moscow and Tbilisi agreed to hire a Swiss company to operate special 
customs checkpoints to be set up on the administrative boundaries of South 
Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Georgian government signed a relevant contract with 
the Swiss company, SGS, last December.

The Russian side followed suit on Friday. Announcing the signing of the 
contract with SGS, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow has thus “completed 
procedures necessary for the start of a practical implementation” of the 2011 
agreement.

Zurab Abashidze, Georgia’s chief negotiator in talks with Russia, said on 
Sunday that the Russian move paves the way for the opening of the corridors.

Abashidze told RFE/RL that he and his Russian opposite number, Deputy Foreign 
Minister Grigory Karasin, will set up a Russian-Georgian “working group” during 
the next round of bilateral talks that will be held in Prague on Thursday. The 
group will be tasked with working out practical modalities of opening and 
operating the new trade routes, he said.

Armenian leaders have repeatedly expressed hope that the 2011 Russian-Georgian 
deal will be implemented. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said in 
December that his government is ready to allow Armenia as well as Turkey and 
other countries to use, in case of a “force majeure situation,” the road 
passing through South Ossetia.




Azeri Troops Warned Against Advancing Towards Armenian Border


Armenia - An Armenian soldier stands guard on the border with Azerbaijan's 
Nakhichevan exclave, 14 May 2016.

The Armenian military warned Azerbaijani forces against trying to advance 
towards Armenia’s border after an Azerbaijani soldier was shot dead there on 
Sunday.

The soldier, Adil Tatarov, was reportedly killed by Armenian troops guarding 
the border with Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. The Azerbaijani Foreign 
Ministry accused Yerevan of escalating tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh 
conflict zone “instead of holding meetings” with international mediators.

The Armenian Defense Ministry blamed the fatal shooting on “provocative” 
actions which it said have been taken Azerbaijani troops at some sections of 
the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier in recent weeks. The ministry spokesman, 
Artsrun Hovannisian, said they have been “conducting active engineering works 
for the purpose of improving and advancing their positions.”

“The armed forces of Armenia have periodically, including in the last several 
days, warned the commanders of Azerbaijani forces deployed on the border with 
Armenia that this and other provocative actions cause shootouts and could lead 
to undesirable losses,” Hovannisian wrote on Facebook. Such actions “cannot 
stay unanswered,” he said.

Armenia’s newly appointed Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and Foreign Minister 
Zohrab Mnatsakanian jointly visited some of the Armenian army posts on the 
Nakhichevan border on May 18. According to his press office, Tonoyan told 
troops serving there to “strictly thwart any adventure by the enemy.”

The two ministers inspected the troops two days after Azerbaijan’s President 
Ilham Aliyev visited Nakhichevan and touted an Azerbaijani military buildup 
carried out there in recent years. “Long-range missiles deployed in Nakhichevan 
can destroy any military target of the enemy,” Aliyev said.

Armenia’s capital Yerevan is located roughly 70 kilometers northwest of the 
nearest section of the Nakhichevan border.




Pashinian Insists On Snap Elections


Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and members of his government pose for 
a photograph with President Armen Sarkissian after being sworn in at the 
presidential palace in Yerevan, .

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday that he remains determined to 
force fresh parliamentary elections in Armenia.

“As I have said, pre-term elections are a priority for us,” Pashinian told 
reporters after he and the newly appointed members of his cabinettook the oath 
of office at a ceremony led by President Armen Sarkissian.

“But it doesn’t mean that this is the only issue that we must solve,” he said. 
“The government has to function normally and it has and will have long-term 
programs. One thing doesn’t contradict the other.”

“After all, this government will also be taking part in the pre-term 
parliamentary elections. In what format? That’s a different issue,” he added.

Pashinian called for such elections immediately after tens of thousands of his 
supporters demonstrating in the streets of Yerevan forced Prime Minister and 
former President Serzh Sarkisian to resign on April 23. He said last week that 
he expects the polls to be held later this year.

Pashinian is backed by the three minority factions in the Armenian government 
that have received ministerial portfolios in his government. Sarkisian’s 
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) still holds a majority of seats in the 
National Assembly, putting it in a position to block government bills or even 
initiate a vote of no confidence in the cabinet.

The HHK’s parliamentary leaders have spoken out against the idea of snap 
elections. They may also oppose major amendments to the Armenian Electoral Code 
sought by Pashinian and his political allies.

Pashinian made clear on Monday that his political team will draft such 
amendments before the end of June. He also signaled that it will be seeking 
personnel changes in the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) which was 
formed by the previous government.

Under the Armenian constitution, fresh general elections will have to be called 
if the prime minister resigns and the parliament twice fails to elect a new 
premier or if the government’s policy program is not approved by most lawmakers.




Press Review



(Saturday, May 19)

“Zhamanak” comments on Friday’s meeting between U.S. Ambassador to Armenia 
Richard Mils and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. They reportedly discussed, 
among other things, fresh parliamentary elections and amendments to the 
Electoral Code sought by the new Armenian leadership. The pro-Western paper 
finds this fact significant, saying that the United States is signaling support 
for the idea of snap polls. It expects similar signals from the European Union 
and hopes that Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) will not obstruct the 
conduct of the elections.

“Aravot” carries an editorial on recriminations that were traded last week by 
former President Levon Ter-Petrosian and former Defense Minister Vigen 
Sargsian. Sargsian criticized Pashinian’s statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh 
peace process made in Stepanakert, prompting a stern rebuke from Ter-Petrosian. 
The latter also attacked another ex-president, Robert Kocharian, being himself 
lambasted by a website close to Kocharian. The paper hopes that Ter-Petrosian, 
Kocharian as well as former President Serzh Sarkisian will make amendments to 
each other and accept the legitimacy of the country’s new leadership.

“Hraparak” says that Armenians’ level of civil consciousness is still 
insufficient despite the specular success of the democratic revolution led by 
Pashinian. “We must understand that regime change is not fun and nor is the 
country placed at our disposal a toy,” editorializes the paper. “It needs to go 
down a very serious path and it is incumbent on all of us to put it on a right 
course. The enemies of our country are not only those who will abuse their 
powers but also those who will see mistakes but stay silent.”

(Tatev Danielian)

Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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