Friday,
Pashinian Blasts Azeri ‘Intransigence’ On Karabakh
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks at a meeting in Yerevan, June
19, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused Azerbaijan on Friday of hampering a
compromise solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with “maximalist” demands
and territorial claims to Armenia.
Pashinian launched unusually scathing attacks on Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev as he chaired a meeting of Armenia’s and Karabakh’s top security
officials. He complained that Aliyev has never reciprocated his repeated calls
for an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal that would satisfy all parties to the
conflict.
“It is obvious that with such [Azerbaijani] approaches we cannot anticipate real
progress in the negotiation process, especially given that they are accompanied
by war threats or territorial and direct or indirect historical claims to the
Armenian people,” said Pashinian.
Aliyev, he said, realizes that Baku’s attempts to end the conflict by force
would provoke a “more than adequate response” from the Armenian military.
“For more than 15 years [Aliyev] has promised his own people to solve the
Karabakh conflict through military force and under this guise they have spent
billions of dollars which have very often … ended up on offshore accounts of
known people,” Pashinian went on. “And now he cannot explain to his own people
why the reality is as it is.”
“He realizes that a possible [military] adventure would not only cause
Azerbaijan irreversible devastation but also dismantle his anti-democratic
regime,” claimed the Armenian premier. “And so in order to deflect people’s
attention and get out of this deadlock he raises the temperature of his
statements.”
Pashinian seemed to allude to Aliyev’s recent renewed claims that much of
modern-day Armenia, including Yerevan, lies in “historic Azerbaijani lands.”
Aliyev and Pashinian most recently met in February on the sidelines of an annual
international security forum in Munich. They publicly traded accusations during
a panel discussion on Karabakh held right after their brief talks.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have since tried to keep the
peace process alive despite the coronavirus pandemic. In late April, they held a
joint video conference with the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading
the OSCE Minsk Group.
“The Foreign Ministers and Co-Chairs agreed to remain in close contact and to
continue negotiations in person as soon as possible,” read a joint statement
issued at the time.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced last week that more such talks will be
held later this month.
Pashinian Cancels Trip To Moscow
ARMENIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Armenian Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian during a meeting on the sidelines of a Eurasian
Economic Union summit in Yerevan, Armenia October 1, 2019.
Citing the continuing coronavirus crisis, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
announced on Friday he will not travel to Moscow next week to attend a Russian
military parade that will mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over
Nazi Germany.
Russian President Putin invited him to the Red Square parade slated for June 24
when they spoke by phone on June 1. Pashinian accepted the invitation.
In a letter to Putin publicized by his office, the Armenian leader said he
looked forward to taking part in Russia’s World War Two Victory Day celebrations.
“But as it turned out afterwards, the existing epidemiological situation does
not allow me to carry out this visit,” he wrote. “Based on that, I decided to
refrain from travelling to Moscow. This was discussed in detail and agreed upon
by our staffs.”
Pashinian added that he still hopes to meet with Putin soon.
Pashinian announced his decision five days after 75 Armenian soldiers flew to
Moscow in preparation for their participation in the parade.
The Defense Ministry in Yerevan confirmed their participation on June 2. It said
that during the annual display of Russia’s military might they will carry not
only an Armenian national flag but also the banner of a Red Army division that
mostly consisted of Armenians and reached Berlin in May 1945.
Pashinian’s spokeswoman, Mane Gevorgian, said later on Friday that Defense
Minister Davit Tonoyan will “lead” the Armenian army contingent during the
parade.
The parade, originally scheduled for May 9, was postponed by the Kremlin in
April due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both Armenia and Russia have been hit
hard by the pandemic.
Armenian Authorities Scale Back Gas Price Hikes
• Robert Zargarian
Russia – A stop sign is fixed in front of the Russian Gazprom company's
headquarters in Moscow, January 21, 2020
Public utility regulators rejected on Friday sizable increases in domestic
prices of natural gas demanded by Armenia’s Russian-owned gas distribution
network.
The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) only allowed the Gazprom
Armenia network to raise its prices set for corporate consumers by an average of
4.5 percent. It said the gas price for households will not go up for now.
The network fully owned by Russia’s Gazprom requested an 11 percent cumulative
rise in its retail tariffs on April 1. It argued that the cost of Russian gas
supplied to Armenian consumers has remained unchanged since Gazprom raised its
wholesale price for Armenia from $150 to $165 per thousand cubic meters in
January 2019. Gazprom’s Armenian subsidiary has incurred major losses as a
result.
Gazprom Armenia offered to slightly cut the gas price for the majority of
households, which currently stands at an equivalent of $290 per thousand cubic
meters. However, it demanded the scrapping of a 36 percent price discount
enjoyed by low-income families.
The PSRC objected to this demand even before formally ruling on the tariff
application. It also urged the gas operator to settle for a more modest rise in
tariffs set for manufacturing and agricultural firms.
Gazprom Armenia’s chief executive, Hrant Tadevosian, responded by warning on
June 4 that the commission could put continued supplies of Russian gas to the
country at risk.
Not surprisingly, Tadevosian criticized the PSRC’s decision on Friday, saying
that the commission should have raised the average tariff by at least 7.8
percent. But he did not warn of supply disruptions this time around.
Tadevosian indicated instead that his company will have to cut planned
expenditures, presumably including capital investments. It pledged earlier to
invest 230 billion drams ($474 million) in in the Armenian gas infrastructure
over the next 10 years.
Shortly before Gazprom Armenia requested the price hikes, the Armenian
government urged the Russian energy giant to cut its wholesale gas price for
Armenia. It argued that global energy prices have collapsed because of the
coronavirus pandemic.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
discussed the matter by phone on April 6. They apparently failed to reach an
agreement.
Speaking at a May 19 video conference with fellow leaders of the Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU) member states, Putin rejected Armenia’s and Belarus’s calls
for the Russian-led trade bloc to set uniform energy tariffs which would reduce
the cost of Russian natural gas imported by them.
Wealthy Backers ‘Ready To Bail Kocharian Out’
• Tatevik Lazarian
Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian (R) talks to his lawyer Hayk
Alumian during his trial, Yerevan, October 7, 2019.
Robert Kocharian’s office said on Friday that wealthy supporters of Armenia’s
jailed former president are ready to help him post a $4.2 million bail needed
for his release.
The Court of Appeals set the unprecedented bail amount on Thursday when it
partly overturned a lower court’s refusal to free Kocharian pending the outcome
of his ongoing trial. He has to pay the hefty sum by Saturday or remain under
arrest.
The head of Kocharian’s office, Victor Soghomonian, hailed the ruling as a
“first step towards restoring justice” while criticizing the highest ever bail
set in the country’s history.
In a statement, Soghomonian said “hundreds of individuals” have expressed
readiness to bail Kocharian out. They include “several wealthy entrepreneurs and
philanthropists,” he said, adding that he will reveal their names soon.
Kocharian’s younger son Levon said, meanwhile, that the ex-president’s family
cannot afford to make the required payment on its own.
Kocharian’s assets were frozen by law-enforcement authorities after he was first
arrested in July 2018 on charges stemming from the 2008 post-election crackdown
on opposition protesters in Yerevan. The ex-president noted this fact during a
Court of Appeals hearing on Wednesday. He said he can only use Levon’s and his
daughter Gayane’s properties worth 700 million drams ($1.5 million) as bail
collateral.
One of Kocharian’s lawyers, Hayk Alumian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am) on Friday that he is still not sure his client can pay up.
Alumian said the defense lawyers may therefore challenge the bail amount in the
higher Court of Cassation.
Prosecutors have already decided to appeal against bail granted to the man who
ruled Armenia from 1998-2008.
Also planning to appeal to the Court of Cassation are relatives of nine people
killed in the March 2008 unrest in Yerevan. One of their lawyers, Tigran
Yegorian, added his voice to prosecutors’ claims that Kocharian could obstruct
justice and exert “substantial influence” on witnesses if set free.
Kocharian, his former chief of staff and two retired army generals went on trial
more than a year ago, accused of overthrowing the constitutional order. The
ex-president also stands accused of bribery. He rejects all accusations leveled
against him as politically motivated.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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