The post-revolutionary government of Armenia wants a price cut for consumers of natural gas supplied to the South Caucasus country by Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Garegin Baghramyan, Armenia’s acting minister of energy and natural resources, told reporters on November 8 that “negotiations are being conducted toward the reduction” of prices, without providing details.
Gazprom sells gas to its Armenia-based subsidiary at a price of $150 per thousand cubic meters of gas.
The Armenian subsidiary, which owns Armenia’s gas-distribution network, then sells it to consumers in the country for about $284 per thousand cubic meters.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reportedly discussed the price of gas that Moscow supplies to Armenia during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in September. At that time, Putin asserted that Yerevan receives Russian natural gas “at the lowest prices Gazprom sells gas in the world — $150 per 1,000 cubic meters.”
In 2015, hundreds of thousands of Armenians took to the streets in mass protests against a hike in electricity prices after a Russian-owned company managing Armenia’s power grid was granted a tariff rise by Armenia’s ousted former president , Serzh Sargsyan.
Trump blames Obama for Ukraine’s loss of Crimea
US President Donald J. Trump blamed the “regime” of his predecessor Barack Obama for Ukraine’s loss of the strategic Crimea Peninsula in the Black Sea, which was invaded and annexed by Russia in March 2014.
“About the fact that President Obama allowed a very large part of Ukraine to be taken [by Russia],” Trump said during a press conference in Washington, to which he added that he had cordial, and often warm discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin
“The fact is I had a very, very good meeting with President Putin,” Trump said. “A lot was discussed — about Syria, about security, about Ukraine.
When pressed by the international media about his position on Ukraine, Trump said, “That was President Obama’s regime. That was during President Obama. Right?” Russia sent thousands of troops into Crimea following Ukraine’s pro-Western Euromaidan Revolution toppled the government of Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
Moscow has since backed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine where the fighting has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.