Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Yerevan Wants Russia’s Gazprom To Change Pricing Policy
RUSSIA – Flags wave outside of the Russian Gazprom company's headquarters in
Moscow, January 21, 2020
Gazprom should stop trying to make Russian natural gas more expensive for
consumers in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Wednesday, pointing
to the coronavirus-related collapse in global energy prices.
Armenia’s Gazprom-owned gas distribution network asked public utility regulators
a month ago to allow it to raise by an average of 11 percent the prices of gas
supplied by it to Armenian households and corporate consumers. The Gazprom
Armenia network argued that they have remained unchanged despite a 10 percent
rise in Gazprom’s wholesale price for Armenia which took effect in January 2019
The move followed the Armenian government’s calls for Gazprom to cut the
wholesale tariff. The government hopes that such a reduction would widen Gazprom
Armenia’s profit margins and at least keep internal Armenian prices unchanged.
Speaking during the government’s question-and-answer session in the parliament,
Pashinian said he understands Gazprom’s desire to help its Armenian subsidiary
make “decent profits” and use them for vital repairs and maintenance of the gas
distribution network.
“But we believe that the company of our strategic partner country should display
a different approach given this global crisis and the collapse of the energy
market, and we will try to talk to our partners,” he said, answering a question
from a pro-government parliamentarian.
Pashinian discussed the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an April
6 phone call.
Two weeks later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed complaints
that European Union member states are now paying less for Russian gas than
Armenia and Belarus because of the collapse in international oil prices. He
argued that that unlike EU consumers, the two ex-Soviet states allied to Russia
buy Russian gas at fixed prices that had been set well below international
market-based levels.
Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian countered that Russian gas has
never been as cheap for Armenia as was claimed by Lavrov. He said that Yerevan
asked Gazprom for a deeper discount primarily because the Russians want to raise
the gas price.
Grigorian also dismissed Lavrov’s criticism of ongoing criminal investigations
into major Russian companies operating in Armenia and the state-owned Russia
Railways network in particular.
Arrest Warrant Issued For Sarkisian’s Son-In-Law
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Former Armenian Ambassador to the Vatican Mikael Minasian.
A court in Yerevan approved on Wednesday an arrest warrant against Mikael
Minasian, former President Serzh Sarkisian’s fugitive son-in-law prosecuted on
corruption charges which he rejects as politically motivated.
Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) brought the accusations of illegal
enrichment, false asset disclosure and money laundering in March and revealed
them one month later. It also moved to arrest Minasian late last month.
One of Minasian’s lawyers, Mihran Poghosian, denounced the court for allowing
investigators to hold him in detention for at least two months. Poghosian noted
that the judge in the case is the one who issued last year an arrest warrant for
his client’s father, Ara Minasian. The latter is facing corruption charges in a
separate inquiry conducted by another law-enforcement body.
A bitter critic of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Mikael Minasian apparently
left Armenia shortly after he was dismissed as the country’s ambassador to the
Vatican in late 2018. He declined to reveal his current whereabouts in two video
messages posted on Facebook in recent days.
In one of the messages circulated late on Tuesday, Minasian said that he is not
returning to Armenia because he believes that investigators and judges dealing
with his case are acting on illegal orders issued by Pashinian. The prime
minister has repeatedly accused him of illegally making a huge fortune during
Sarkisian’s rule.
Minasian also claimed late last week that Pashinian had offered to guarantee his
and his father’s immunity from prosecution if he pledges to pay cash and stop
challenging the Armenian government. He said that the offer was personally
communicated to him in February 2019 by Artur Vanetsian, the then director of
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), at a meeting held in Rome. He said he
rejected the offer.
Pashinian has still not commented on Minasian’s allegations. Law-enforcement
authorities have pledged to look into them.
“I would suggest that Mikael Minasian frequently release such videos,” said
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian. “I’m sure that we too get some information
from those videos.”
Another senior official, deputy parliament speaker Alen Simonian, said Minasian
thus effectively admitted having “liabilities towards the Republic of Armenia.”
Minasian, 42, enjoyed considerable political and economic influence in the
country when it was ruled by his father-in-law from 2008-2018. He is also
thought to have developed extensive business interests in various sectors of the
Armenian economy.
Amram Makinian, another defense lawyer, said on April 22 that the money
laundering charge brought against Minasian stems from large sums of cash which
he transferred from one of his bank accounts to another in 2017-2018. “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,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
Makinian 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.
Pashinian Sees Prolonged ‘Coronavirus Crisis’
• Anush Mkrtchian
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is about to deliver a speech in
parliament, May 6, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian told Armenians on Wednesday to brace themselves
for months of economic hardship resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
“The crisis is only just beginning and we note that we will have a coronavirus
crisis for at least one year, until May 2021,” he said, speaking in the Armenian
parliament.
Pashinian insisted at the same time that his government has managed to keep
economic disruptions caused by the pandemic “manageable.” He again touted
wide-ranging measures taken by it since the first cases of the virus were
registered in Armenia in early March.
The stimulus measures have included cash handouts to various categories of the
vulnerable population as well as loan subsidies and grants to businesses and
farmers. Also, Armenian banks suspended in late March loan repayments for
hundreds of thousands of individual borrowers and businesses
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian put the total amount of the government
assistance allocated so far at 62 billion drams ($130 million). He said it has
benefited 360,000 individuals and 24,000 businesses.
Opposition lawmakers questioned, however, the effectiveness of the government’s
aid program and cited delays in their implementation during a parliament session
on Tuesday. Some of them claimed to have received complaints about inaccuracies
in the lists of people eligible for the aid.
One deputy, former Labor Minister Mane Tandilian, also complained that
restaurants and cafes in Armenia have to pay local taxes despite the fact that
they have not operated for nearly two months due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Viktor Yengibarian, a lawmaker representing Pashinian’s My Step bloc, defended
the government efforts to ease the socioeconomic hardship. “I’ve been receiving
phone calls from our compatriots living western European countries,” he said.
“They are really envious of the situation that exists in Armenia in terms of the
spread of the virus and in the economic sense.”
Coronavirus Cases In Armenia Continue To Soar
• Susan Badalian
Armenia -- Customers at a cafe in Yerevan, May 4, 2020.
Health Minister Arsen Torosian acknowledged on Wednesday that Armenia’s
coronavirus outbreak is deteriorating after the daily number of confirmed
infections in the country reached a new record high following the virtual
lifting of a nationwide lockdown.
The Armenian Ministry of Health reported in the morning that 163 people tested
positive for coronavirus in the past day, raising the total number of cases to
2,782. It said that the death toll from the COVID-19 epidemic remains unchanged
at 40.
The ministry has also reported the deaths of seven other individuals infected
with the virus. It says that they died from other, pre-existing diseases.
“The situation is increasingly becoming more difficult as evidenced by the
numbers,” Torosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
“Unfortunately, we are on a rising trajectory at the moment,” he said. “We are
still coping in terms of [hospital] capacity.”
Torosian warned last week that the health authorities will soon be no longer
able to hospitalize or isolate all infected people.
The authorities set up last month 1,500 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.
According to the Ministry of Health, some 1,600 patients were treated by medics
in hospitals or hotels across the country as of Tuesday.
Torosian said that due to the rising numbers the Armenian government may again
extend a coronavirus-related state of emergency which is due to end on May 14.
But he did not comment on the possibility of restoring lockdown restrictions
that had been imposed in late March.
Those restrictions, including a ban on most types of business activity, were
largely lifted by May 4. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on May 3 that
Armenians must now share with the government “responsibility” for tackling the
epidemic and minimizing its consequences. Pashinian urged them to abide by
social distancing and hygiene rules set by the authorities.
Torosian likewise said that the further spread of the potentially lethal disease
“depends on each of us, not just me or the government.” “We have to learn to
live [with coronavirus,]” he said. “For example, to wear face masks in closed
spaces and keep a safe distance from each other.”
Some critics of the government have condemned these statements, saying that the
authorities are trying to dodge responsibility for their lax enforcement of
stay-at-home orders and failure to contain the epidemic.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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