Monday, February 14, 2022
Russian, Armenian Officials Again Discuss Talks With Turkey
February 14, 2022
RUSSIA - Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, June 18, 2021.
Deputy parliament speaker Ruben Rubinian on Monday discussed with a senior
Russian diplomat the upcoming second round of negotiations on normalizing
relations between Armenia and Turkey.
Rubinian, who represents Armenia in the negotiations, had already spoken with
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko ahead of his first meeting with
Turkish negotiator Serdar Kilic held in Moscow on January 14. Ankara and Yerevan
described that meeting as “positive and constructive.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Rudenko discussed with Rubinian by phone the
implementation of the latter’s “understandings” with Kilic reached in Moscow as
well as their second meeting that will take place in Vienna on February 24.
“The Russian side reaffirmed its readiness to further assist in the search for
common ground between Yerevan and Ankara in the interests of stability and
sustainable development in the region,” read a statement released by the
ministry.
According to the official Armenian readout of Rubinian’s phone call with
Rudenko, the two men expressed hope that the Vienna meeting will be productive.
Earlier this month, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan voiced cautious
optimism over the success of the Turkish-Armenian dialogue which has also been
welcomed by the United States and the European Union.
Ankara has for decades linked the establishment of diplomatic relations with
Yerevan and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border to a resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu has repeatedly made clear that his government will coordinate
the Turkish-Armenian normalization talks with Baku.
Armenia Not Evacuating Embassy In Ukraine
February 14, 2022
• Sargis Harutyunyan
UKRAINE -- View on Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky monument and Saint Sophia Cathedral
on Sofia square in Kyiv, 14Mar2016
Armenia indicated on Monday that it has no plans yet to follow the example of
Western nations and evacuate its diplomatic missions in Ukraine despite the
looming threat of a Russian invasion.
It also refrained from urging Armenian nationals to leave the country.
“We are closely monitoring developments in Ukraine,” said Vahan Hunanian, the
Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman.
“Armenia’s diplomatic missions in Ukraine (the Embassy in Kyiv and the Consulate
General in Odessa) work normally, being in constant contact with Armenian
citizens, who will be given additional recommendations, if necessary,” he added
in written comments.
The United States, most European Union member states and other Western nations
have fully or partly pulled their diplomatic staff out of Kyiv in recent days as
they stepped up their warnings of an imminent attack by Russia on Ukraine. They
have also told their citizens to leave the country.
In addition, a number of European airlines have suspended their flights to
Ukraine for security reasons. By contrast, daily flights between Yerevan and
Kyiv, carried out by Ukrainian airlines, are continuing unabated.
Belarus - Multiple rocket launchers fire during the Belarusian and Russian joint
military drills at Brestsky firing range, February 4, 2022.
Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine but
denies it plans to invade. At the same time, Moscow has demanded far-reaching
“security guarantees” from the West, including a pledge not to admit Ukraine to
NATO and to scale back NATO military presence near its borders. Western powers
reject these demands.
Armenia, which has close political, military and economic ties with Russia, has
been careful not to publicly comment on the deepening international crisis. The
South Caucasus state has become even more dependent on Moscow for security since
the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ukraine is home to an estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians. Most of them are
Ukrainian citizens.
Boris Yeghiazarian, a Ukrainian-Armenian painter and activist living in Kyiv,
said on Monday that he does not know of any local Armenians who have fled the
country because of the deteriorating situation on the Ukraine-Russia border.
Yeghiazarian said many members of the Armenian community are ready to “take up
arms” and defend the country “just like Ukrainians.” Only a small percentage of
them have pro-Russian views, he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Armenia Jolted By Another Earthquake
February 14, 2022
• Satenik Kaghzvantsian
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - New apartment blocks in Gyumri constructed for people who lost their
homes in the 1988 earthquake, 15Oct2012.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck Armenia and neighboring Georgia late on
Sunday, causing brief panic among some people.
According to the Armenian seismic protection agency, the epicenter of the
earthquake was at a section of the Armenian-Georgian border about 40 kilometers
north of Gyumri. Tremors were felt in Yerevan and six of Armenia’s ten provinces
as well as Tbilisi and southern Georgia.
The quake did not kill or injure anyone. The Armenian Ministry of Emergencies
reported minor damage caused to buildings in Yerevan, Gyumri and three other
towns.
Many Gyumri residents rushed out of their homes immediate after the quake, which
knocked out power supplies in one of the city’s districts. The supplies were
restored about 90 minutes later.
“Residents can return to their homes,” the Ministry of Emergencies said in a
late-night statement. It urged them not to “succumb to panic,” saying that they
should only expect weaker aftershocks.
The ministry’s seismic protection service recorded 165 aftershocks by Monday
morning. A senior official from the service, Sos Margarian, described the
earthquake as “moderately powerful.”
“It’s probably the strongest since the Spitak earthquake,” Margarian said,
referring to 1988 calamity that killed more than 25,000 people and devastated
much of northwestern Armenia, including Gyumri.
The latest tremors came one year after two quakes measuring at magnitude 4.7 in
their epicenters jolted some Armenian regions in the space of one week. The
authorities urged residents of Yerevan and surrounding communities at the time
to stay outdoors for several hours.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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