Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Russia Backs Mediators’ Renewed Visits To Karabakh
November 10, 2021
• Gevorg Stamboltsian
• Naira Nalbandian
Nagorno-Karabakh -- Bako Sahakian, the Karabakh president, meets with the U.S.,
Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Stepanakert, October 16,
2019.
Russia said on Wednesday that the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading
the OSCE Minsk Group should be able to resume their visits to Nagorno-Karabakh
as part of their peace efforts.
“Russia attaches importance to a quick resumption of visits to Karabakh by the
Minsk Group co-chairs in their full format,” the Russian Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told reporters.
In that regard, Zakharova reaffirmed Moscow’s support for the Minsk Group’s
continued activities.
“The format of the OSCE Minsk Group enjoys broad international support,” she
said. “The Russian Foreign Ministry also attaches importance to the troika’s
efforts in the context of addressing socioeconomic and humanitarian issues
facing the region.”
The mediating troika had for decades travelled to Karabakh and met with its
leadership during regular tours of the conflict zone. The visits practically
stopped with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent outbreak
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
The mediators were widely expected to resume their shuttle diplomacy after
organizing talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in New
York on September 24. It is still not clear when they could arrive in the region.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian suggested over the weekend that their
planned trip is delayed by Azerbaijan. He said he asked the Minsk Group’s U.S.
co-chair, Andrew Schofer, about reasons for the delay when the latter
accompanied a senior U.S. State Department official on a visit to Yerevan last
week.
“He said they are working towards making the visit,” Pashinian told Armenian
Public Television. “I think that it’s overdue, I think that it should have
already taken place. I presume that the Azerbaijani side is creating some
obstacles.”
Azerbaijani leaders have repeatedly said that Baku’s victory in last year’s war
ended the Karabakh conflict. Armenia as well as the United States and France
have publicly insisted that the conflict remains unresolved.
Armenian Medics Prosecuted For Fake COVID-19 Certificates
November 10, 2021
Armenia - People line up at an open-air coronavirus vaccination site in Yerevan,
May 7, 2021.
Nine Armenian medical workers have been arrested in recent weeks on charges of
issuing fake coronavirus vaccination and test certificates, according to state
prosecutors.
Starting from October 1, virtually all employees of Armenia’s public and private
entities have been required to get inoculated or take coronavirus tests twice a
month at their own expense. Health authorities introduced the requirement in a
bid to increase the slow pace of vaccinations which greatly contributed to a
resurgence of COVID-19 in the country.
Speaking during an October 7 cabinet meeting in Yerevan, Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian ordered law-enforcement authorities to crack down on medics who he
said issue fake vaccination certificates to individuals refusing to be
vaccinated. The Armenian police and National Security Service announced a few
days later the first arrests of employees of policlinics serving as the
country’s principal vaccination centers.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General said on Wednesday that 15 medical workers
have been charged with selling fake vaccination certificates as well as
documents showing negative test results to a total of about 310 people. The
latter paid from 5,000 to 40,000 drams ($10-$84) per document, it said in a
statement.
The statement added that nine of the suspects are currently under arrest pending
investigation. Investigators are continuing to take “large-scale measures” to
expose more such forgeries, it said.
The prosecutors urged Armenian medical personnel to avoid such practices,
warning that they would risk “strict” punishment.
According to the Armenian Ministry of Health, nearly 614,000 people in the
country of about 3 million received at least one dose of a vaccine as of
November 7. Only around 10 percent of the country’s population was fully
vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s daily coronavirus death toll hit a new record after months
of a steady increase in infections. The Ministry of Health said 69 people died
from COVID-19 on Tuesday.
U.S. Condemns Killing Of Karabakh Armenian Civilian
November 10, 2021
• Heghine Buniatian
• Susan Badalian
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Azerbaijani soldiers patrol at a checkpoint on a road
outside the town of Shushi (Susa), November 26, 2020
The U.S. State Department has condemned the killing of an ethnic Armenian
resident of Nagorno-Karabakh committed just outside the Azerbaijani-controlled
town of Shushi (Shusha) on Monday.
The 22-year-old Martik Yeremian was gunned down and three other utility workers
wounded while repairing a water pipe off the road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that they were shot “from the
Azerbaijani side.” It said Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in Karabakh are
investigating the incident together with Karabakh Armenian and Azerbaijani
officials.
“We condemn the violence that caused the death of an Armenian civilian,” read a
statement posted on the Twitter page of the State Department’s Bureau of
European and Eurasian Affairs.
“We urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify their engagement including through
the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to resolve all outstanding issues related to or
resulting from the [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict,” it said.
According to Gagik Poghosian, the chief executive of Karabakh’s water and
sewerage network, the four workers repaired a pipeline supplying water to a
Russian peacekeeping post near Shushi when they were approached by an armed
Azerbaijani man.
“He asked what they are doing,” Poghosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Our
guys replied that they are eliminating the consequences of an accident, and he
immediately started shooting.”
“This is the road through which hundreds of vehicles go to Armenia and come back
every day,” he said. “We have worked there for months.”
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on Tuesday did not deny that the civilians were
shot by an Azerbaijani serviceman. But it blamed the Armenian side for the
shooting, saying that the Karabakh Armenian workers were not escorted by Russian
soldiers and that the incident took place during Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev’s visit to Shushi.
“An event attended by Azerbaijan’s president and other high-ranking officials
was held in Shusha, and tight security measures are taken in such cases,” a
ministry spokeswoman said.
The governments of Armenia and Karabakh have strongly condemned the shootings.
“Azerbaijan is trying to disseminate despair in Artsakh (Karabakh) so that
people choose to leave Artsakh while those willing to return don’t come back,”
said Davit Babayan, the Karabakh foreign minister.
In recent months, Karabakh authorities have periodically accused Azerbaijani
troops of opening small arms fire at Karabakh towns and villages mostly located
close to Shushi. A 55-year-old Karabakh Armenian farmer was shot dead outside
the northern Karabakh town of Martakert last month.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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