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 Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.