RFE/RL Armenian Report – 04/22/2020

                                        Wednesday, 

Another Armenian Town Sealed Off Due To Coronavirus Outbreak

        • Narine Ghalechian

Armenia -- Police officers enforcing a coronavirus lockdown check cars leaving 
Yerevan, April 1, 2020.

Authorities blocked on Wednesday all roads leading to Vartenis, a small town 160 
kilometers northeast of Yerevan, after registering 47 cases of coronavirus there 
in recent days.

Acting on a government order, Armenia’s police and National Security Service 
(NSS) set up roadblocks early in the morning to prevent people leaving or 
entering Vartenis. Only vehicles carrying food, fuel and medicine as well as 
individuals having special permissions issued by the regional administration 
were allowed to pass through the checkpoints.

Gnel Sanosian, the governor of the surrounding Gegharkunik province, told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian service that 21 of the infected people are employees of the 
local hospital and policlinic. He said one of them, a policlinic doctor, was the 
primary source of the COVID-19 outbreak recorded late last week.

“We still cannot establish where the disease entered Vartenis from,” said 
Sanosian. “But have we have ascertained the circle of the infected people’s 
contacts.”

Sanosian confirmed that some of the other local residents who tested positive 
for coronavirus are members of a non-traditional religious group. He did not 
deny rumors that the group, which he refused to name, has held religious 
services despite a ban on any gatherings imposed by the Armenian government last 
month.

“If necessary, relevant bodies will deal with that and we will find out where 
those people went and in which gatherings they participated,” added the 
governor. “Our main task right now is to treat and take care of everyone.”

As part of the one-week lockdown, the authorities quarantined 150 other Vartenis 
residents who came into contact with the infected people. They will spend the 
next two weeks in hotels in other parts of the country. Dozens of other locals 
were ordered to self-isolate.

Another small town, Maralik, was sealed off for on Monday after 18 doctors and 
other employees of a local hospital were diagnosed with the potentially lethal 
disease. Three other Maralik residents are among 24 people who have died from 
the virus in Armenia so far.

The Armenian Ministry of Health reported 72 new coronavirus cases across the 
country in the past day. The total number of such cases thus reached 1,473. 
According to the ministry, a total of 633 people recovered from COVID-19 to date.



Sarkisian’s Son-In-Law Indicted On Corruption Charges

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia -- Mikael Minasyan.

Armenian tax authorities have brought corruption charges against Mikael 
Minasian, former President Serzh Sarkisian’s son-in-law and reputed confidant 
highly critical of the current government, it emerged on Wednesday.

The State Revenue Committee (SRC) gave no details of the accusations of illegal 
enrichment, false asset disclosure and money laundering which were leveled 
against him one month ago. Minasian’s lawyers rejected them as unfounded and 
politically motivated.

Minasian served as Armenia’s ambassador to the Vatican from 2013 to 2018. He was 
sacked in November 2018 six months after Sarkisian was toppled in the “Velvet 
Revolution” led by Nikol Pashinian, the current prime minister.

Minasian, 42, enjoyed considerable political and economic influence in the 
country throughout Sarkisian’s decade-long rule. He is also thought to have 
developed extensive business interests in various sectors of the Armenian 
economy.

One of the defense lawyers, Amram Makinian, said the money laundering charge 
stems from large sums of cash which Minasian transferred from one of his bank 
accounts to another in 2017-2018. He declined to specify the total amount of 
that money.

“The investigating body has noted that documents at his disposal prove the legal 
origin of the money and that money resulted from the sale of his stake in a 
property,” Makinian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “The transfer of the 
proceeds from the totally legal sale of those assets is now deemed money 
laundering. This is one of the most pathetic accusations I have ever seen.”

The lawyer also insisted that the other accusations are based on a “technical 
error” committed by the employee of a private firm which drew up and filed 
Minasian’s income declarations. He said that SRC investigators are refusing to 
summon that person for questioning.

“The investigating body and prosecutors realize that the criminal case will 
collapse if they are interrogated,” claimed Makinian.


Vatican - Armenian Ambassador Mikael Minasian (R) speaks at an event during 
President Serzh Sarkisian's visit to Rome, 19Sep2014.
In his first income declaration filed with a state body in 2013, Minasian said 
that he owns an apartment in Yerevan, four villas and shares in two companies in 
addition to having more than $2.5 million in cash in his bank accounts. He also 
declared ownership of an expensive collection of more than 200 artworks.

In Makinian’s words, the investigators have asked a court in Yerevan to allow 
his client’s arrest.

Minasian apparently left Armenia shortly after his sacking. Since then he has 
increasingly attacked Armenia’s current leadership and Pashinian in particular 
with articles posted on his Facebook page and disseminated by Armenian media 
outlets believed to be controlled by him. He has accused the government of 
incompetence and misrule.

For his part, Pashinian has repeatedly accused Minasian of illegally making a 
huge fortune during Sarkisian’s rule. Pashinian most probably referred to 
Sarkisian’s son-in-law when he pledged, during a November 2019 visit to Italy, 
to bring to justice Armenia’s “best-known corrupt individuals” who he said are 
“hiding in Vatican basements.”

In a January 11 article, Pashinian’s “Haykakan Zhamanak” daily accused Minasian 
of masterminding a smear campaign against the prime minister family.

Minasian’s father Ara is a renowned doctor who ran a state hospital in Yerevan 
until the Armenian Health Ministry accused him of embezzlement in July 2018. Ara 
Minasian strongly denied the allegations. He apparently fled Armenia before 
being formally charged in November 2018.

Sarkisian, who still leads the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia, is 
also facing embezzlement charges which he rejects as politically motivated. The 
ex-president’s trial began in late February.



Moscow Dismisses Complaints About Russian Gas Price For Armenia


Switzerland -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends the Human Rights 
Council at the United Nations in Geneva, February 25, 2020.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has defended Moscow’s reluctance to cut 
the price of its natural gas supplied to Armenia and criticized Armenian 
criminal investigations into major Russian companies operating in the country.

The Armenian government effectively requested a price cut in a letter to 
Russia’s Gazprom giant sent late last month. The letter argued that 
international oil prices, which essentially determine the cost of Russian gas 
supplied to Europe, have fallen sharply due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also discussed the matter by phone on March 31 
with President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, which is also heavily dependent 
on Russian gas. According to Lukashenko’s press office, the two men agreed that 
the current gas prices set for their countries are “inflated.”

Lukashenko has since repeatedly complained that European Union member states are 
now paying less for Russian gas than Belarus or Armenia, which are part of the 
Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).


Kazakhstan - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (L) and Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian talk at a CSTO summit in Astana, 8 November 2018.

Lavrov dismissed such complaints during a video conference on Tuesday. He argued 
that unlike EU consumers, Armenia and Belarus buy Russian gas at fixed prices 
that had been set well below international market-based levels.

“When the existing price for Armenia and Belarus was two or three times lower 
than the international price this was taken for granted and nobody said that 
it’s politics,” he said.

While acknowledging that the two ex-Soviet states allied to Russia are entitled 
to privileged treatment by Gazprom Lavrov stressed that they must also honor 
their “contractual obligations.”

Lavrov also said that internal gas prices set by Armenian utility regulators 
make it harder for Gazprom to agree to a deeper discount. He complained that 
this “chronic” problem is “not being solved for several years running.”

The retail prices have remained unchanged since Gazprom raised its wholesale 
tariff for Armenia from $150 to $165 per thousand cubic meters in January 2019. 
Armenia’s Gazprom-owned gas distribution network has incurred additional losses 
as a result.

Last month the Gazprom Armenia network formally asked the Public Services 
Regulatory Commission (PSRC) to allow a roughly 11 percent rise in the gas 
prices set for Armenian households and businesses. The commission has to approve 
or reject the application by June 19.

Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian said on April 15 that in response to his 
letter Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller indicated that it is up to the two 
governments to agree on the new wholesale price. Pashinian discussed the issue 
with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an April 6 phone call.

Lavrov mentioned that conversation, saying that Putin and Pashinian “see ways of 
developing our alliance and strategic partnership.” But he did not clarify 
whether the two leaders reached any agreements on the gas issue.


Armenia -- A commuter train at Yerevan's railway station, February 27, 2018.

The Russian minister promised that Moscow will continue to take into account 
“our allied relations” in deciding the gas price for Armenia. But, he said, 
Yerevan too should demonstrate its commitment to the Russian-Armenian alliance 
by dropping “inappropriate” criminal proceedings launched against major Russian 
corporations.

Lavrov singled out Armenia’s railway network managed by the Russia Railways 
(RZD) giant.

An Armenian law-enforcement agency effectively accused the network called South 
Caucasus Railway (SRC) of investment-related fraud after raiding its offices and 
confiscating company documents in August 2018. Both SRC and its Russian operator 
denied any wrongdoing.

Russia’s Deputy Transport Minister Vladimir Tokarev said last September that the 
continuing criminal investigation has effectively disrupted RZD’s operations in 
Armenia. He warned that the state-run company managing Russia’s vast network of 
railways is therefore considering pulling out of a 30-year management contract 
signed with the former Armenian government in 2008.

In late 2018, Armenian law-enforcement authorities also launched a fraud inquiry 
into Gazprom’s Armenian subsidiary. They have not indicted any senior executives 
of the gas and railways operators so far.



Armenian Opposition Demands Explanations On Karabakh Talks

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Germany -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) and Azerbaijani President 
Ilham Aliyev meet in Munich, February 15, 2020.

Armenian opposition leaders demanded on Wednesday that Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian personally comment on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s claim 
that Yerevan and Baku are “actively discussing” peace proposals calling for 
Armenian territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.

Lavrov said on Tuesday that he presented them to his Armenian and Azerbaijani 
counterparts at a trilateral meeting held in Moscow a year ago. He said the 
proposals envisage a phased settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which 
would start with Armenian withdrawal from “several districts around Karabakh.”

Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian implicitly denied this. He insisted that 
for the last two years the conflicting parties have only exchanged views on 
“some elements” of peace deals put forward by the Russian, U.S. and French 
mediators in the past.

Mnatsakanian’s assurances did not satisfy the two opposition parties represented 
in the Armenian parliament. Their top representatives said Lavrov’s statement 
runs counter to Pashinian’s repeated claims that no Karabakh peace accords have 
been on the agenda of Armenian-Azerbaijani talks held during his rule.

“With all due respect for my good friend Zohrab Mnatsakanian, I must say that 
his response was absolutely inadequate,” said Naira Zohrabian of the Prosperous 
Armenia Party. “He did not answer the most serious and important question: what 
active negotiations are they talking about?”


Armenia -- Edmon Marukian, the leader of Bright Armenia Party, talks to RFE/RL, 
Yerevan, March 21, 2020.

“It is very important that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also reacts,” said 
Bright Armenia Party leader Edmon Marukian. “Our officials are saying that there 
are only discussions, not negotiations, while Lavrov is saying that there are 
negotiations and they center on a particular document.”

Marukian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Yerevan should not only “provide 
explanations to our public” but also “demand explanations from the Russian side.”

Ruben Rubinian, the pro-government chairman of a parliament committee on foreign 
affairs, insisted, however, Mnatsakanian’s response was good enough. “The 
Armenian foreign mister told the truth yesterday,” he said.

In a joint statement issued in March 2019, the mediators reiterated that a 
Karabakh settlement must involve “return of the territories surrounding 
Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh 
providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking 
Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future determination of the final legal status of 
Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will.”

This formula has been at the heart of various framework peace accords drafted by 
the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group since 2007.



Armenia, Azerbaijan Pledge To Keep Karabakh Peace Process Alive


Switzerland -- Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian of Armenia and Elmar 
Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and international mediators meet in Geneva, January 
30, 2020.

Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s foreign ministers pledged to continue looking for 
ways to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict despite the coronavirus pandemic 
during a joint video conference with international mediators held late on 
Tuesday.

“Considering the great challenges now confronting all populations without regard 
to political boundaries … the Foreign Ministers and the Co-Chairs [of the OSCE 
Minsk Group] expressed the hope that the resolve seen in the global pandemic 
response will bring a creative and constructive impetus to the peace process,” 
read a joint statement issued by them.

“The Foreign Ministers and Co-Chairs agreed to remain in close contact and to 
continue negotiations in person as soon as possible,” it said.

The statement said that the worldwide spread of the virus has delayed not only 
such talks but also confidence-building “humanitarian measures” previously 
agreed by the conflicting parties. “Nevertheless, the necessary work to prepare 
these activities continues,” it stressed.

During the discussion, the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the 
Minsk Group also renewed their calls for the parties to “strictly” observe the 
ceasefire in the conflict zone and “avoid provocative actions in the current 
environment,” according to the statement.

Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar 
Mammadyarov most recently met in the mediators’ presence in Geneva on January 30 
for two days of what they called “intensive discussions.” In a joint statement, 
they said they focused on “possible next steps to prepare the populations for 
peace” and “principles and elements forming the basis of a future settlement.”

Two weeks later, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijan’s 
President Ilham Aliyev held a brief meeting before participating in a panel 
discussion on Karabakh held as part of an annual security conference in Munich.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the two 
sides have been actively discussing a peace plan which he presented to 
Mnatsakanian and Mammadyarov at a trilateral meeting held in Moscow a year ago. 
Lavrov said the plan calls for a phased settlement that would start with 
Armenian withdrawal from “several districts around Karabakh.”

Mnatsakanian implicitly denied this at a news conference held in Yerevan shortly 
afterwards. He insisted that for the last two years Baku and Yerevan have only 
exchanged views on “some elements” of a possible peace deal.

Mnatsakanian said that any deal must allow the Karabakh Armenians to exercise 
their right to self-determination through a “free expression of will” that would 
involve no “limitations.”

Azerbaijan has repeatedly ruled out any settlement that would fall short of 
restoring Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.

In a joint statement issued in March 2019, the mediators said “any fair and 
lasting settlement” must involve “return of the territories surrounding 
Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh 
providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking 
Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future determination of the final legal status of 
Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will.”


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