RFE/RL Armenian Report – 02/27/2022

                                        Sunday, February 27, 2022


EU Said To Waive Visas For Armenians Fleeing Ukraine
February 27, 2022

UKRAINE- Ukranian soldiers help a woman and children cross the border at Sighetu 
Marmatiei Customs point, in Baia Mare, Romania, February 26, 2022.


The European Union has waived its visa requirements for Armenian citizens 
fleeing the intensifying fighting in Ukraine, according to Armenia’s Foreign 
Ministry.

The ministry announced on Saturday that they do not need Schengen visas to enter 
Ukraine’s EU neighbors -- Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania -- from the 
embattled country invaded by Russia. The visa waiver is meant for those 
Armenians who want to return to Armenia, it said in a statement.

“Other options for evacuating them from Ukraine are also being considered,” said 
the statement. “At the same time, we inform that the Republic of Armenia is 
ready to receive our compatriots, their family members, as well as other 
refugees.”

The Foreign Ministry also released emergency phone numbers of Armenia’s embassy 
in Kyiv and consulates in the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odessa and 
Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.


A family exits the border after crossing over to flee violence in Ukraine, in 
Medyka, Poland, February 25, 2022.

The Armenian diplomatic missions in Ukraine continued to operate even after 
Russia launched the full-scale military attack on February 24. Nor did Yerevan 
urge Armenian citizens to leave the country.

All flights between Armenia and Ukraine were cancelled immediately after the 
start of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine is officially home to some 120,000 ethnic Armenians. According to 
leaders of the Armenian community there, their actual number is much larger and 
only half of them are Ukrainian citizens.

The United Nations estimated on Friday that at least 120,000 Ukrainians have so 
far fled into Poland and elsewhere. Long lines were seen at border crossings in 
western Ukraine as refugees arrived by trains, automobiles, buses, and by foot, 
fleeing Europe’s largest ground war since the end of World War II.



Putin Again Talks To Armenian, Azeri Leaders
February 27, 2022

Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 
and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian make statements to the press after 
talks in Sochi, November 26, 2021.


Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with the leaders of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan by phone on Saturday evening as Russia continued its military assault 
on Ukraine.

Official Russian and Armenian sources did not mention the intensifying war in 
their statements on Putin’s call with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

The Kremlin said they continued to discuss “practical aspects” of implementing 
Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow during and after the 2020 war 
in Nagorno-Karabakh. Those include “issues of ensuring security and stability on 
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,” it said without elaborating.

Pashinian’s press office reported, for its part, that the two leaders also 
discussed Russian-Armenian relations as well as unspecified “issues related to 
activities” of Russian-led alliances of former Soviet republics.

According to a separate statement released by the Kremlin, Putin talked to 
Aliyev “in continuation” of their meeting held in Moscow on February 22 two days 
before Russia launched a full-scale military attack on Ukraine.

At that meeting, they signed a joint declaration on “allied cooperation” between 
their nations. The declaration says, among other things, that Russia and 
Azerbaijan will avoid “any actions directed against each other” and could 
consider “providing each other with military assistance.”


ARMENIA -- Azerbaijani (L) and Armenian army posts at the Sotk gold mine on the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border, June 18, 2021

Putin said after the talks that he and Aliyev also agreed to closely cooperate 
in implementing the Russian-brokered agreements on the opening of economic and 
transport links between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the demarcation of their long 
border. Moscow will keep helping Baku and Yerevan to settle their “border 
issues” and other “acute problems,” added the Russian leader.

The Russian ambassador to Armenia, Sergei Kopyrkin, likewise said on Saturday 
that Moscow will use its close ties with the two South Caucasus nations to 
prevent fresh fighting on the border.

“And of course, it is important for us that Armenia, the Armenian people feel 
safe,” Kopyrkin told the Armenpress news agency. “The guarantee for this is our 
allied relations and our countries’ policy to deepen and strengthen them.”

In their latest phone call, Aliyev and Putin also discussed the dramatic 
developments in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier on Saturday that Aliyev and 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have offered to help organize talks 
between Russia and Ukraine. Although Zelenskiy welcomed the offer, hopes for an 
immediate move toward talks appeared dim.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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