Friday,
Former Security Chief Questioned By Investigators
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsian watches a football
match at Republic Stadium, Yerevan, September 5, 2019.
Artur Vanetsian, the former National Security Service (NSS) chief increasingly
at loggerheads with Armenia’s political leadership, has been summoned for
questioning in two criminal investigations, it emerged on Friday.
The Investigative Committee said it questioned Vanetsian on Thursday as a
witness in the ongoing inquiries into his leaked phone conversations and alleged
corrupt practices in the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA).
Vanetsian’s sensitive phone calls with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Sasun
Khachatrian, the head of the Special Investigative Service (SIS), were secretly
recorded in July 2018 and posted on the Internet in the following months. The
then NSS director discussed with them coup charges brought against former
President Robert Kocharian and retired General Yuri Khachaturov.
Vanetsian could be heard saying that he pressured a judge to sanction
Kocharian’s arrest. He at the same time urged the SIS not to arrest Khachaturov,
who was the secretary general of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) at the time, warning of a negative reaction from Russia.
“As part of the wiretapping investigation, Mr. Vanetsian’s [mobile] phone was
subjected to an examination,” Naira Harutiunian, the Investigative Committee
spokeswoman, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. She also said that nobody has been
indicted in that probe yet.
The other case stems from financial abuses allegedly committed Ruben
Hayrapetian, the controversial former head of the FFA, and individuals linked to
him. Vanetsian succeeded Hayrapetian as FFA president following the 2018 “Velvet
Revolution” in Armenia. He resigned from that post last November two months
after being sacked as NSS director for still unclear reasons.
Vanetsian on Friday declined to comment on his interrogations, referring all
inquiries to his lawyer Lusine Sahakian. “We decided not to make comments for
now,” Sahakian said for her part.
Vanetsian has repeatedly traded bitter recriminations with Pashinian since his
sacking. In a January 11 article, the “Haykakan Zhamanak” daily controlled by
Pashinian’s family accused him of organizing a smear campaign against the
family. Hrachya Hakobian, a pro-government parliamentarian and Pashinian’s
brother-in-law, alleged afterwards that Vanetsian was fired in September because
he was plotting a coup.
Vanetsian, who has not been charged with any crimes so far, denounced the
“Haykakan Zhamanak” article as slanderous and threatened to file a libel suit
against the paper.
The former NSS chief also scoffed at Pashinian’s weekend allegations that
Armenian security services have thwarted a “hybrid” anti-government conspiracy
hatched by current and former officials. He said Pashinian’s Civil Contract
party should consider replacing the prime minister. Senior party figures hit
back at Vanetsian.
Armenia Suspends Visa-Free Regime With China Amid Coronavirus Fears
• Artak Khulian
China -- Workers in protective suits work at the production line manufacturing
detection kits for the new coronavirus at a company, as the country is hit by an
outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, January 29, 2020
The Armenian government on Friday suspended for two months visa free-travel
between Armenia and China, citing the need to guard against a new coronavirus
that has killed more than 200 people in China.
A bilateral agreement allowing Armenian and Chinese citizens to stay in each
other’s country visa-free for up to 90 days was signed last year and went into
force as recently on January 19.
Its suspension announced by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian means that
Chinese nationals travelling to Armenia between February 1 and March 31 will
need to have Armenian visas. Avinian attributed the decision to the
“epidemiological situation conditioned by the coronavirus.”
The government announced earlier in the day that it has set up an interagency
commission tasked with preventing the spread of the deadly disease to Armenia.
The commission is headed by Avinian.
The government warned Armenians against all travel to China last week. It also
banned imports of Chinese food and raw materials.
Armenia -- Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian (R) of Armenia and Wang Yi of
China sign a visa waiver agreement in Yerevan, May 26, 2019.
Health authorities say they are monitoring all people arriving from China to
Armenia via third countries.
Health Minister Arsen Torosian told reporters on Friday that the authorities are
not yet equipped to definitively detect the coronavirus there is a “99.9 percent
likelihood” of the absence of any cases in Armenia.He said they will receive
laboratory equipment and materials for coronavirus tests in the coming days.
“Up until now Armenian citizens returning from China and Chinese citizens
[visiting Armenia] … have had no symptoms characteristic of the coronavirus,” he
said.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, some 400 Armenians lived in China
before the outbreak of the virus which the World Health Organization declared a
global emergency on Thursday. At least six of them remain in the Chinese city of
Wuhan lying at the epicenter of the outbreak.
A young man in Yerevan, Erik Khachikian, claimed on Thursday that doctors at a
local policlinic refused to examine his condition after he told them that he
lived in another Chinese city, Xian, and returned to Armenia just days ago.
“Such things are unacceptable,” Torosian said in this regard. He pledged to
“take measures” over Khachikian’s claims.
At least 213 people in China have died from the coronavirus, with nearly 10,000
cases registered. A total of 98 cases have been confirmed in 18 other countries,
but no deaths outside of China have been recorded, according to the WHO.
Pashinian Meets New Russian PM
Kazakhstan -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian takes a selfie with his
Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin at the start of their meeting in Almaty,
.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his new Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin
hailed rapidly growing trade between their countries and pledged to further
deepen Russian-Armenian commercial ties when they met for the first time on
Friday.
The two men held talks on the sidelines of a meeting in Kazakhstan’s largest
city, Almaty, of the prime ministers of the five ex-Soviet states making up the
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a Russian-led trade bloc.
“Relations between our countries, governments have always been and will be good
and warm,” Pashinian said in his opening remarks at the talks. “I think that we
always have a chance to elevate our relations to a new level.”
Mishustin assured him that Russia’s newly reshuffled government is “intent on
continuing constructive relations and working contacts with our Armenian
colleagues.” He said that Russian-Armenian trade soared by nearly 18 percent in
January-November 2018, solidifying Russia’s status as Armenia’s number one
trading partner.
“This is good,” he said. “We should cement this positive trend and look for new
fields of cooperation.”
Pashinian likewise noted that bilateral trade was on track to approach the $2
billion mark last year. He said this is one of the reasons why economic growth
in Armenia accelerated to over 7 percent.
“I hope that your government will support the economic dynamic which we have in
Armenia right now,” added the Armenian leader.
According to an Armenian government statement, the two premiers then discussed a
“wide range of issues pertaining to Russian-Armenian economic relations.” The
statement cited Mishustin as proposing that Moscow and Yerevan explore
possibilities of launching “concrete projects in the information technology
sector.” Pashinian welcomed the idea, it said.
Mishustin, whom Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appointed as prime
minister on January 16, attended a global IT forum held in Yerevan in October.
The 53-year-old technocrat headed Russia’s Federal Tax Service at the time.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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