Thursday, July 2, 2020
Pashinian Congratulates Putin On Referendum Win
Russia -- President Vladimir Putin visits a polling station at the Russian
Academy of Sciences to vote in a constitutional referendum, July 1, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on
Thursday on winning a controversial plebiscite on constitutional changes that,
among other things, allow him to remain in power until 2036.
“This event is indeed of fundamental importance for the further strengthening of
Russian statehood,” Pashinian wrote in a congratulatory message to Putin
released by his office.
“I am confident that the amendments to the constitution approved by the
overwhelming majority of Russians will create favorable conditions for your
country’s continued progress and socioeconomic development,” he said.
According to Russia’s Central Election Commission, 77.9 percent of voters
endorsed the Kremlin-backed package of more than 200 changes to the Russian
constitution. The most-controversial of them is one that resets Putin’s
term-limit clock to zero, opening the way for him to run for reelection when his
current six-year term expires in 2024 and again in 2030.
The Kremlin has said the amendments are necessary for the country’s stability
and security, while Putin’s critics charge they are a bid for the 67-year-old to
secure power for life.
The non-binding vote was marred by reports of irregularities at some polling
stations and intimidation of activists and journalists. The European Union urged
Russia on Thursday to investigate them.
For its part, the U.S. mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe issued a statement saying it is “troubled by reports of Russian
government efforts to manipulate the result of the vote.”
Pashinian Allies Oppose Parliament Probe Into COVID-19
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - An ambulance rescuer wearing personal protective equipment moves a
patient into the Grigor Lusavorich Medical Centre in Yerevan on May 27, 2020,
amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senior lawmakers from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc criticized
their opposition colleagues on Thursday for pushing for a parliamentary inquiry
into the Armenian authorities’ response to the continuing coronavirus crisis in
the country.
The opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) demanded such an inquiry on June
17 after the pro-government majority in the parliament controversially lifted
BHK leader Gagik Tsarukian’s immunity from prosecution.
Bright Armenia (LHK), the second opposition party represented in the National
Assembly, backed the proposed formation of an ad hoc parliamentary commission on
the coronavirus crisis on the condition that it will be headed by a LHK
lawmaker. The BHK accepted the condition.
“The government has totally botched the fight against the coronavirus,” charged
the LHK’s Gevorg Gorgisian. “The fact that Armenia has one of the worst records
in the world … proves that there have been numerous shortcomings.”
Gorgisian claimed that the government’s socioeconomic relief measures have also
not served their purpose. “All this must definitely be the subject of an
inquiry,” he said.
Alen Simonian, a deputy parliament speaker and senior My Step figure, scoffed at
the initiative, calling it “pathetic” and “untimely.”
“The epidemic is not over and God knows when it will end,” he said. “So it is
first and foremost too early to make evaluations.”
Simonian also accused the BHK and the LHK of hypocrisy, saying that both parties
have demanded the lifting of a ban on rallies imposed by the authorities in
March as part of a coronavirus-related state of emergency.
Narek Zeynalian, the chairman of the parliament committee on public health and
social affairs, also objected to the opposition initiative. The Armenpress news
agency quoted Zeynalian as saying that the parliament commission should be set
up only after the end of the pandemic.
Under Armenian law, ad hoc commissions must be set up if that is demanded by at
least 33 members of the 132-seat parliament. The BHK and the LHK have submitted
37 signatures to parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan.
Still, the parliament majority can thwart such an inquiry by refusing to
formally endorse the commission’s composition. My Step already blocked early
this year a parliamentary corruption probe into Yerevan’s pro-government Mayor
Hayk Marutian in this fashion.
According to Gorgisian, the parliament will discuss the issue in September,
right after the end of its summer recess.
Armenia has one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the world, with a
total of 26,658 coronavirus cases recorded in the country of about 3 million as
of Thursday morning. The official death toll from the disease stood at 459.
Armenian Government Eyes COVID-19 Vaccine Supplies
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Russia -- A scientist examines COVID-19 infected cells under a microscope during
research for a vaccine against the coronavirus at a laboratory of BIOCAD
biotechnology company in Saint Petersburg, May 20, 2020.
The Armenian government is negotiating with foreign corporations and
international organizations in hopes of securing supplies of a potential
coronavirus vaccine to Armenia beforehand, Health Minister Arsen Torosian
announced on Thursday.
Torosian said he is optimistic that such a vaccine will be developed in the
coming months.
“We are now holding negotiations in two directions,” he told a weekly cabinet
meeting in Yerevan. “The first one is [drug] manufacturers. I am personally
negotiating with them.
“For example, yesterday I spoke with the commercial director of the
[Massachusetts-based] Moderna company which is linked to our [Armenian-American]
compatriot Noubar Afeyan. Their MRN 1723 vaccine … is one of the strongest
vaccine candidates.”
“We are also negotiating with the World Health Organization and UNICEF platforms
that will be trying to make collective purchases to ensure that there is a
proportionate distribution of large doses [of the vaccine] among numerous
countries,” added Torosian.
Armenia -- Health Minister Arsen Torosian speaks at a cabinet meeting, Yerevan,
July 2, 2020.
More than 100 vaccines are being developed and tested around the world to stop
the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed hundreds of thousands and ravaged the
global economy. None of the major drugmakers and research institutes has
reported a successful completion of those tests so far.
Torosian predicted that a much-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine may well be
developed and be on the market before the end of this year.
“The biggest risk here is that some countries could buy large quantities of
manufactured or even not yet manufactured vaccines which will consequently reach
other countries much later … That is why it is very important to start
negotiations now, even before having a [developed] end product,” explained the
minister.
“According to various estimates, a vaccine will be available to countries at the
end of 2020 or at the beginning of 2021,” he said.
Armenia has one of the highest infection rates in the world, with a total of
26,658 coronavirus cases recorded in the country of about 3 million as of
Thursday morning. According to the Armenian health authorities, 593 people
tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.
The authorities also reported the deaths of 10 more people infected with the
disease. They said COVID-19 was the main cause of six of those fatalities which
raised the official death toll to 459.
Court Adjourns Hearing On Tsarukian’s Arrest
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Gagik Tsarukian, the leader of the country's largest opposition
party, speaks with the media outside a courthouse, Yerevan, June 18, 2020.
Armenia’s Court of Appeals adjourned on Thursday the first hearing on the
pre-trial arrest of Gagik Tsarukian, the indicted leader of the main opposition
Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), sought by prosecutors.
The district court in Yerevan refused on June 21 to sanction Tsarukian’s arrest
on vote buying charges rejected by him as politically motivated. Both the
prosecutors and Tsarukian’s lawyers appealed against that decision. The lawyers
objected to the court’s conclusion that investigators have grounds to suspect
that the BHK leader handed out vote bribes during parliamentary elections held
in 2017.
One of Tsarukian’s lawyers, Emin Khachatrian, said the Court of Appeals
rescheduled the hearing for July 7 because it has not yet received all petitions
and other documents which the litigants sent to it by post.
The prosecutors kept pressing for Tsarukian’s arrest even after it emerged on
Tuesday that he has been infected with the coronavirus. According to
Khachatrian, Tsarukian stays mostly at home while visiting a Yerevan hospital
for treatment on a daily basis.
The National Security Service (NSS) says that Tsarukian “created and led an
organized group” that bought more than 17,000 votes for the BHK during the 2017
elections. It claims to have collected documents showing that a BHK candidate,
Vazgen Poghosian, distributed vote bribes to residents of the Gegharkunik
province. The NSS also says that Poghosian has given incriminating testimony
against Tsarukian.
Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Tsarukian and Poghosian were
brought face to face and interrogated by the NSS recently. He said the joint
interrogation only reinforced the defense lawyers’ belief that the criminal case
against their client is baseless. But he did not give any details.
Tsarukian, who is one of the country’s wealthiest persons, and his party
maintain that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian ordered the criminal proceedings in
response to the BHK leader’s June 5 calls for the government’s resignation.
Pashinian and law-enforcement authorities deny that the case is politically
motivated.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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