Friday, Russia Allocates $12 Million For Karabakh Refugees ARMENIA -- Children refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh hug each other in Dilijan, some 120 kilometers from Yerevan, October 8, 2020 Russia has allocated 10 million euros ($12.2 million) in financial assistance to thousands of ethnic Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh who fled to Armenia during the recent war. The office of Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian reported this week that the sum will co-finance the Armenian government’s ongoing aid programs for the refugees remaining in Armenia nearly two months after Moscow brokered an Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement to stop the war. The government has helped the refugees both during and after the six-week hostilities that displaced the majority of Karabakh’s population. According to Grigorian’s office, the government has spent about 15 billion drams ($29 million) for that purpose since November 16. The aid has included compensations of between 250,000 and 300,000 drams ($480-580) paid to those Karabakh families whose homes were destroyed by shelling or who lived in areas occupied by Azerbaijani forces. On December 17, the government also decided to create temporary jobs for refugees, finance paid internships for them and pay monthly benefits to families in Armenia hosting them. ARMENIA -- Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh stay at a hotel in the Armenian border city of Goris, October 5, 2020 According to Karabakh officials, at least 90,000 civilians making up around 60 percent of Karabakh’s population fled their homes during the war that broke out on September 27. Most of them took refuge in Armenia. At least 47,000 Karabakh Armenians have reportedly returned home since the November 10 truce. Later in November, the Russian government opened in Stepanakert a “center for humanitarian reaction.” The center coordinates ongoing Russian-led demining operations in Karabakh and is also tasked with helping to rebuild homes and public infrastructure destroyed or seriously damaged during the hostilities. Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergencies says that it has sent more than 1,500 tons of construction materials, household appliances and other relief supplies to Karabakh so far. Armenian PM Prioritizes Closer Ties With Russia Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian (second from right) visits a Russian-Armenian border guard post on Armenia's border with Turkey, July 4, 2020. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has announced plans to further deepen Armenia’s relations with Russia, saying that his country needs “new security guarantees” after the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh. “The very first minutes of 2021 should be the ‘zero point’ for us to usher in the outset of our new national rise,” Pashinian said in a televised address to the nation aired on New Year’s Eve. “What do we need for this? First of all, to furnish a new security environment, the most important component of which is the launch of army reforms and the strengthening of relations with our primary security partner, Russia, and the creation, in this context, of new security guarantees,” he said. Armenia already has close political, economic and military ties with Russia. It hosts a Russian military base and has long received Russian weapons at knockdown prices and even for free. Moscow also deployed 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Karabakh as part of a Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war on November 10. In addition, it dispatched Russian soldiers and border guards to Armenia’s Syunik region southwest of Karabakh to help the Armenian military defend it against possible Azerbaijani attacks. Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Yerevan, October 1, 2019. Pashinian again praised the Russian peacekeepers, saying that their presence provides “substantial security guarantees” for Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population. The vast majority of Armenian opposition forces, including the formerly pro-Western Bright Armenia Party (LHK), also support closer ties with Russia, saying that is the only realistic way to counter Azerbaijan’s military alliance with Turkey. LHK leader Edmon Marukian called last week for the opening of a second Russian military base in Armenia. Marukian said the base should be stationed in Syunik. Former President Robert Kocharian likewise made a case on December 4 for Armenia’s “much deeper integration” with Russia. Kocharian, who has a cordial rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that only Russia can help his country rearm its armed forces and confront new security challenges in the aftermath of the Karabakh war. “I am convinced that the further development of multifaceted Russian-Armenian ties meets the fundamental interests of our two brotherly peoples,” Putin said in a New Year and Christmas message to Pashinian sent earlier this week. He said that in the course of 2020 Moscow and Yerevan “became fully convinced of the significance of friendly, allied relations between our countries.” Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.