Thursday, April 8, 2021
Armenian PM Reaffirms Plans To Deepen 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 reiterated his desire to further deepen Armenia’s
relationship with Russia after holding what he described as “very productive”
talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
“I am very satisfied with the results of the meeting,” Pashinian told a group of
Russian-Armenian lawyers at the end of his visit to Moscow.
“We didn’t sign any documents but spoke about the further implementation of a
number of documents, including on security, signed in the past,” he said,
singling out Russian-Armenian treaties on a joint military contingent and
air-defense system of the two states.
Echoing statements by other Armenian officials, Pashinian said that Russia is
helping Armenia reform its armed forces after the autumn war in
Nagorno-Karabakh. “This was one of the most important issues discussed by us,”
he said without going into details.
“One thing is clear: the character of Russian-Armenian relations is strategic
and this strategic cooperation must be made deeper in view of the existing
challenges and situations that we face,” added Pashinian.
Pashinian announced plans for forging even closer ties with Russia shortly after
Putin brokered an Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement that stopped the six-week war
over Karabakh on November 10. He said Armenia needs “new security guarantees.”
The Armenian Defense Ministry announced late last month that a high-level
Russian military delegation will visit Yerevan soon for further talks on defense
reforms announced by Armenia’s government.
RUSSIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir
Putin meet at the Kremlin in Moscow, April 7, 2021
Putin also emphasized the “strategic” nature of Russian-Armenian ties in his
opening remarks at the meeting with Pashinian.
The two leaders discussed the implementation of the truce agreement and the
restoration of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan envisaged by it.
Pashinian complained that Baku is continuing to hold many Armenian prisoners of
war and civilian captives in breach of the deal.
Putin had a phone call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday.
Pashinian met, meanwhile, with Ara Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, in
Yerevan to brief him on the results of the talks with Putin. He praised Russian
peacekeeping troops deployed in Karabakh, calling them “the main protagonists of
ensuring peace and stability” in the conflict zone.
Kocharian Again Sues Pashinian
• Satenik Hayrapetian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and formen President Robert Kocharian.
Former President Robert Kocharian has filed another defamation lawsuit against
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian just days after being cleared of coup charges.
A lawyer for Kocharian, Hayk Alumian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Thursday
that he is seeking 4 million drams ($7,500) in damages and a public retraction
of what he regards as slanderous claims made by Pashinian during a March 1 rally
in Yerevan.
Addressing supporters at the city’s Republic Square, Pashinian accused Kocharian
of ordering security forces to shoot and kill opposition protesters in Yerevan
in March 2008. He again claimed that investigators have solved the killings of
eight protesters and two police servicemen during the post-election unrest and
that the ex-president is dragging out his trial to obstruct justice.
Alumian said Pashinian slandered his client and violated the latter’s
presumption of innocence.
Kocharian had already sued the prime minister in September 2018 and April 2020.
He withdrew the first suit in June 2019 after Pashinian clarified through a
lawyer that he did not publicly accuse the ex-president of “organizing the
killings.”
The second suit followed Pashinian’s allegations that Kocharian and other former
senior officials “plundered” Armenia while in office. A Yerevan court has yet to
rule on it.
Pashinian did not immediately react to his political foe’s latest legal action.
Kocharian, who governed the country from 1998-2008, was first arrested in July
2018 on charges of “overthrowing the constitutional order” during the final
weeks of his decade-long rule.
Armenia’s Constitutional Court declared the accusations, strongly denied by
Kocharian, unconstitutional on March 26. The move led a Yerevan judge presiding
over the marathon trial of Kocharian and three other former officials to throw
out the case earlier this week.
The judge ruled that Kocharian and his former chief of staff, Armen Gevorgian,
will continue to stand trial only on bribery charges also denied by them.
Armenia Gets Russian Coronavirus Vaccine
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - Boxes containing Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine are unloaded from a
Russian transport plane at Zvartnots airport, Yerevan, April 8, 2021. (Photo by
the Russian Embassy in Armenia)
Armenia received the first major batch of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine
early on Thursday.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian said the 15,000 doses of the vaccine will be
used to inoculate 7,500 people at highest risk of contracting COVID-19.
“Preference will be given to health workers of COVID [medical] centers, patients
suffering from chronic illnesses and people aged 65 and older,” Avanesian told
reporters.
The same high-risk groups of the population are also eligible for 24,000 doses
of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine which the Armenian government purchased and
imported on March 28.
Health authorities were due to start administering the AstraZeneca vaccine shots
on April 5. The inoculations were postponed, however, due what government
officials called logistical problems.
Avanesian downplayed the delay, saying that the government’s vaccination efforts
remain on track.
The minister also complained that the government has trouble buying larger
quantities of coronavirus vaccines manufactured by various countries.
“All vaccines are sold to small countries in very small quantities,” she said.
“It’s very hard to acquire them.”
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
meet at the Kremlin in Moscow, April 7, 2021
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian raised the matter with Russian President Vladimir
Putin when they met in Moscow on Wednesday.
Pashinian asked Putin to help Yerevan buy many more doses of the Sputnik V
vaccine. “We need more than a million doses,” he said.
“Our [vaccine] production is gaining momentum … So I think that we will solve
this problem,” replied Putin.
The Russian Embassy in Yerevan described the first major shipment of Sputnik V
shots as a “continuation of Russia’s large-scale support for Armenia in the
fight against COVID-19.” It said Russia donated 2,000 Sputnik doses to the South
Caucasus country earlier this year.
Armenia - Passengers on a commuter bus in Yerevan, March 12, 2021.
Armenia has been hit hard by the pandemic and is currently grappling with a
third wave of coronavirus infections.
The Armenian Ministry of Health said earlier on Thursday that 1,231 new
coronavirus cases have been registered in the country of about 3 million in the
past day. It also reported the deaths of 32 more people infected with COVID-19.
The daily numbers of cases and deaths have increased sharply since the end of
February. Critics blame the resurgence of the acute respiratory disease on the
authorities’ failure to enforce their physical distancing and sanitary rules.
Few Armenians now wear mandatory face masks not only on in the streets but also
shops and even public buses. Schools, theaters, restaurants and cafes across the
country remain open.
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.