Thursday,
‘Many People’ Questioned In Armenian Corruption Probe
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - Artur Vanetsian, the new head of the National Security Service,
speaks to RFE/RL before attending a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, ..
The new head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsian,
said on Thursday that it has already questioned many people as part of an
unprecedented crackdown on corruption promised by him.
Vanetsian said over the weekend that unnamed individuals who have long
“enriched themselves through large-scale corruption schemes” will be exposed
and held accountable soon. The NSS will strive to ensure that they compensate
the state for public funds embezzled by them, he said.
Vanetsian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Thursday that these
anti-graft measures have already begun and that “there will be revelations in
the coming days.”
“I can tell you that numerous individuals have been summoned [for questioning,]
there are detained individuals, efforts are underway, and the public will be
informed about that in the coming days,” he said. “This is a complex, difficult
and large-scale effort which is in full swing. We need to make sure that nobody
has any questions in connection with it.”
“That is why we must do everything in a very professional way and for that we
need a little time,” he added.
Vanetsian also said that the interrogated persons gave “explanations” that
confirmed “our preliminary operational information.” He refused to clarify
whether there are any current or former high-ranking officials among them.
The NSS chief was also asked to comment on rumors that his powerful security
agency is poised to implicate Yerevan’s embattled Mayor Taron Markarian in
corrupt practices. “We don’t deliberately prepare [incriminating] materials
against any officials,” he said. “We do our job. If we find out facts
testifying to illegal activities of one or another person we perform our duties
defined by the law.”
Markarian, who is affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party, is facing
growing pressure to resign from Armenia’s new government headed by Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Vanetsian, 38, is a career NSS officer who was named to run the security
service two days after the Armenian parliament voted to choose Pashinian as
prime minister on May 8. Pashinian has pledged, among other things, to “root
out” endemic corruption in the country.
Russian, Armenian Defense Chiefs Discuss Closer Ties
RUSSIA -- Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu salutes as he takes part in
the Victory Day parade, marking the 73rd anniversary of the victory over Nazi
Germany in World War Two, at Red Square in Moscow, Russia May 9, 2018.
Armenia’s new Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and his Russian counterpart Sergey
Shoygu have reportedly agreed to maintain and even deepen the already close
military ties between their nations.
The two men met in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Wednesday on the sidelines of
a meeting of the defense ministers of six former Soviet republics making up the
Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
The Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisian, said they
stressed their governments’ “readiness to ensure the continuity of existing
agreements and programs and to expand them in all areas of bilateral [military]
cooperation.”
A separate statement by the ministry likewise said Shoygu and Tonoyan agreed to
deepen “the Russian-Armenian strategic allied relationship.” It said they also
discussed regional security and “ways of jointly countering existing threats.”
Armenia - Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan at a meeting with senior Russian
officials in Yerevan, 16 May 2018.
Tonoyan met with Russia’s charge d’affaires and military attaché in Yerevan on
May 16 just a few days after being appointed as defense minister by Armenia’s
new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. He reportedly told them that
Russian-Armenian military ties “will continue to be expanded.”
Pashinian said on Wednesday that “military-technical cooperation” was among the
issues on the agenda of his May 14 talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin
held in Sochi. He did not elaborate.
Russia has long been the principal supplier of weapons and other military
equipment to the Armenian army. Membership in the CSTO entitles the South
Caucasus state to receiving them at discounted prices or even for free.
Last October, Moscow agreed to provide the Armenian government with a fresh
$100 million loan that will be spent on buying more Russian weapons at internal
Russian prices set well below market-based levels. It already lent Yerevan $200
million for the same purpose in 2015.
Armenia also hosts a Russian military base that has been reinforced with
modernized warplanes, combat helicopters and new artillery systems in recent
years. Successive Armenian governments have regarded the Russian troops as a
crucial deterrent against neighboring Turkey, which fully supports Azerbaijan
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
New Tax Chief Vows Sizable Rise In State Revenue
• Karlen Aslanian
Armenia - The headquarters of the State Revenue Committee in Yerevan.
The newly appointed head of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) pledged on
Thursday to ensure this year a “substantial” increase in taxes and customs
duties collected by the government agency.
“I can tell you that [tax] revenues will be substantially higher than planned,”
Davit Ananian told reporters after attending a weekly cabinet meeting in
Yerevan. He did not give any numbers.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian demanded a more radical improvement of tax
administration in Armenia when he presented Ananian to senior SRC officials
last week. He said tax reforms carried out by the previous SRC chief, Vartan
Harutiunian, are “not sufficient.”
Armenian tax revenue rose by more than 7 percent last year. The improvement was
particularly visible in the national customs service, which has long been
regarded as one of the country’s most corrupt government agencies. Import
duties collected by the SRC soared by over 23 percent in 2017.
Ananian, who served as a deputy finance minister before taking over the SRC,
acknowledged that his predecessor tackled the informal sector of the domestic
economy “quite effectively.” But he said the fight against tax fraud will be
tougher and “even more effective” during his tenure.
Ananian did not deny media reports that Pashinian met with wealthy
businesspeople earlier this week. “I don’t know what was discussed but I
received relevant instructions as a result of the discussion,” he said. “The
instructions were very clear and simple: the SRC must operate within the
framework of the law and there must be no privileged companies.”
Pashinian pledged to separate business from politics and de-monopolize
lucrative sectors of the Armenian economy, notable commodity imports, when he
took office on May 8.
UK's Johnson Discusses Russia With ‘Armenian PM’
UK -- British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attends the BBC's Marr Show in
London, April 15, 2018.
(Reuters) - Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talked international
relations and rude poetry with a hoax caller who pretended to be the Armenian
prime minister in a new gaffe by one of Britain’s most prominent politicians.
In the 18-minute call, Johnson discussed relations with Russia, the Iran
nuclear deal and the Syrian war, according to audio of the call uploaded on
YouTube and shared on the Twitter pages of Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus.
Britain’s foreign office confirmed that Johnson had been hoaxed and said the
perpetrator was “childish”, while a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May
said an investigation was under way “to make sure this doesn’t happen again”.
“This shouldn’t have happened,” the spokeswoman said.
The caller, impersonating Armenia’s new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, said he
was going to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and asked Johnson’s advice
for dealing with him.
“I hope he will not poison me with Novichok,” the prankster joked, referring to
a nerve agent used in the March attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his
daughter, for which Britain has blamed Russia. Johnson can be heard chuckling
on the other end of the line.
Later in the call, Johnson said he would like to come to Armenia to find out
more about “Armenia’s Novichok experiences”, and they also talk about sanctions
against Russia and high-profile individuals.
“You throw a stone in Kensington and you’ll hit an oligarch,” Johnson said, in
reference to the central London district favored by Russian tycoons. “Some of
them are close to Putin and some of them aren’t.”
Vovan and Lexus are known in Russia for targeting celebrities and politicians
with their audacious stunts, and in 2015 they prank-called British singer Elton
John.
Johnson too is no stranger to controversy. In the run-up to Britain’s 2016
referendum on EU membership, the prominent Brexiteer compared the goals of the
European Union to those of Adolf Hitler and Napoleon, causing consternation in
European capitals. Also in 2016, Johnson wrote a controversial poem about
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, involving wild oats and a goat, which the
prankster complimented him on.
But despite his penchant for colorful rhetoric, Johnson stuck closely to
official British policy throughout the call and eventually stopped replying
altogether.
“The Foreign Secretary realized it was a hoax and ended the call. We checked it
out and knew immediately it was a prank call,” the Foreign Office said in a
statement. “These childish actions show the lack of seriousness of the caller
and those behind him.”
The perpetrators of the stunt admitted they had underestimated Johnson. “We
were surprised that he turned out to be a smart diplomat, an intellectual,”
Lexus was quoted as saying in Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. “This is
probably the first time we have spoken with someone who is not an idiot.”
Pashinian Replaces Armenian Army Chief
Armenia - Colonel-General Movses Hakobian, chief of the Armenian army's General
Staff, visits an army recruitment center in Yerevan, 8 January 2018.
Armenia’s top army general, Movses Hakobian, was dismissed on Thursday in a
move initiated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
A relevant decree signed by President Armen Sarkissian was requested by
Pashinian in accordance with the Armenian constitution.
The premier announced Hakobian’s impending sacking at the start of a weekly
cabinet meeting held earlier in the day. He attributed the move to Hakobian’s
“transfer to another position.”
“I want to say that the decision was made in an atmosphere of mutual consent,”
Pashinian said, adding that the new chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff
will be appointed “by the end of the day.”
Hakobian was replaced by Major-General Artak Davtian later in the evening.
Davtian, 47, has been the commander of the Armenian army’s Fifth Corps since
September 2017. He had previously held senior positions in the General Staff.
Pashinian, meanwhile, announced his decision to appoint Hakobian as Armenia’s
chief military inspector.
Hakobian was named as army chief in October 2016 by then President Serzh
Sarkisian. He had worked as deputy chief of the General Staff since 2015.
The 53-year-old colonel-general is a native of Nagorno-Karabakh and a former
Soviet army officer who served in Afghanistan from 1987-1988. He played a
prominent role in the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan.
Hakobian was the commander of Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army from 2007-2015.
Press Review
“Haykakan Zhamanak” is dissatisfied with criminal investigations into last
month’s violent attacks on anti-government protesters in Yerevan which were
reportedly carried out by government loyalists. The paper argues that nobody
has been formally charged in connection with those incidents yet. It notes,
though, that law-enforcement authorities moved on Wednesday to arrest the
brother of the notorious top bodyguard of Vladimir Gasparian, the former chief
of the Armenian police. It says that a court in Yerevan was in no rush to
sanction the arrest.
“Aravot” rules out the possibility of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s and
his HHK party’s returning to power. “The former authorities have no avenue of
regaining power,” editorializes the paper. It also says that the new government
might exploit popular fears of an HHK “revanche” to deflect possible criticism
of its policies.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that “huge amounts” of public money have been spent on the
purchase of two cars for a recently established Armenian state body, the
Supreme Judicial Council. They will cost taxpayers about $80,000. The paper
blames Gagik Harutiunian, the former Constitutional Court chairman heading the
council, for what it sees as extravagant spending.
“Zhamanak” reacts to reports that Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, will again
debate a draft resolution recognizing the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman
Empire. The paper cautions that this does not mean the Knesset will definitely
pass the resolution this time around. “After all, it’s not the first time that
the Armenian genocide reaches the political agenda of Israel or other countries
in the world when they have problems with Turkey,” it says. “On the one hand,
it is offensive to see others use our pain for solving their grievances against
Turkey. On the other hand, we cannot fail to come to terms with that reality.
Otherwise, we would have to declare that we renounce efforts at international
recognition of the genocide and call on other countries to avoid playing the
Armenian card.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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