Tuesday, May 17, 2022 Armenian Speaker Reticent About Karabakh’s Status May 17, 2022 • Astghik Bedevian Armenia - Speaker Alen Simonian chairs a session of the National Assembly, Yerevan, September 13, 2021. Parliament speaker Alen Simonian on Tuesday pointedly declined to say whether Armenia will champion Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to self-determination in negotiations on a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Responding to Azerbaijani proposals to negotiate such a treaty, the Armenian government has said that the question of Karabakh’s status must also be on the agenda of the talks. But it has not publicly clarified its position on the status or a mechanism for determining it. Simonian, who is a key political ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, was similarly reticent about the issue when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. Asked whether Pashinian’s administration could recognize Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan, he said: “As head of the legislative branch, I cannot be involved in the negotiating process or somehow predetermine it. The foreign minister, the head of the government will answer this question.” Simonian also would not be drawn on the reason for Yerevan’s failure to mention the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination it its written proposals on the peace talks communicated to Baku. “The Armenian proposal is a proposal regarding the status, but that proposal regarding the status is a subject of discussions,” he said vaguely. Speaking in the Armenian parliament on April 13, Pashinian said that the international community is pressing Armenia to “lower a bit the bar on the question of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status” and recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevan’s intention to make such concessions to Baku, drawing strong criticism from his political opponents and Karabakh’s leadership. The authorities in Stepanakert made clear that the Karabakh Armenians will never agree to live under Azerbaijani rule. Armenian opposition leaders charged, for their part, that Pashinian has agreed to Azerbaijani control over the disputed territory. ARMENIA - Police officers detain opposition supporters who attempted to block streets in the capital Yerevan on May 17, 2022. The opposition went on to launch daily street protests in Yerevan aimed at forcing Pashinian to step down. “You must quit in order for Artsakh (Karabakh) to remain Armenian,” Ishkhan Saghatelian, one of the protest leaders, appealed to the prime minister as thousands of opposition supporters again marched through Yerevan on Tuesday. Pashinian and his political allies have rejected the opposition demands. Simonian said the ruling political team won a popular mandate to govern Armenia for the next five years in parliamentary elections held last June. He also rejected the opposition criticism of the government’s Karabakh policy. “What does the opposition propose? Nothing,” said the speaker. Yerevan Sees Rebound In Russian-Armenian Trade May 17, 2022 Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Moscow, May 16, 2022. Armenia’s vital trade with Russia is showing signs of recovery after shrinking in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian indicated late on Monday. “Regarding the economy, I also want to note that after a certain decline in March, there is an intensification of bilateral economic relations looming,” Pashinian told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting held following a Collective Security Treaty Organization summit in Moscow. In his opening remarks at the meeting, Pashinian thanked Putin for “prodding Russian businesspeople to invest in Armenia.” He welcomed the “investment interest” shown by them but did not specify potential projects that could be launched soon. Nor did he cite any projections regarding this year’s volume of Russian-Armenian trade. It rose by almost 21 percent, to $2.6 billion, in 2021. Russia thus solidified its status as Armenia’s number one trading partner. Bilateral trade reportedly shrunk in March following the start of the war in Ukraine and the resulting Western sanctions imposed on Russia. Visiting Moscow last month, Armenian Economy Minister Kerobian said the two governments should work together to “urgently eliminate the causes of the decline and restore growth.” Russia - Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov (second from right) meets with Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian, Moscow, April 13, 2022. Pashinian discussed the matter with Putin as well as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin when he paid an official visit to Russia later in April. He spoke of “common challenges” facing Armenia and Russia. Because of its close economic links with Russia, Armenia is expected to be significantly affected by the Western sanctions. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have said that economic growth in the South Caucasus country will slow down considerably this year. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) likewise forecast modest growth in early March. It argued, in particular, that a sharp depreciation of the Russian ruble will have a negative impact on Armenian exports to Russia and remittances from Armenian migrant workers. The ruble has rallied dramatically since then and is now stronger against the U.S. dollar and the euro than it was before the Russian invasion. Hundreds Arrested As Armenian Opposition Keeps Up Protests May 17, 2022 • Artak Khulian Armenia - Riot police detain an opposition protester in Yerevan, May 17, 2022. The Armenian police made more than 400 arrests on Tuesday as opposition supporters again blocked roads across Yerevan in continuing protests aimed at forcing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to resign. Groups of protesters began the blockages at 8 a.m. local time in an attempt to disrupt traffic and step up pressure on Pashinian’s government. Opposition leaders claimed to have blocked more than 50 streets in various parts of the capital. Riot police stepped in to unblock the streets, clashing with protesters and detaining many of them. The police reported a total of 414 arrests in the afternoon, a daily record high since the start of the Armenian opposition’s “civil disobedience” campaign on May 1. The protesters included members of Armenia’s parliament affiliated with its two opposition groups leading the campaign. Security forces tried to detain one of them, Tadevos Avetisian, but let him go after finding out that he is a parliament deputy. Armenia - Opposition supporters block a street in Yerevan, May 17, 2022. “This is not policing. This is hooliganism,” charged Lilit Galstian, another opposition lawmaker taking part in the protests. Some citizens also condemned the police actions as they watched the dramatic scenes in the city center. They argued that the protests are peaceful. “Nothing [wrong] was happening,” one woman told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “But they just rounded up [protesters] and took them away.” The authorities insisted that the police restored public order and did not use disproportionate forces. Mobile phone videos posted on social media showed dozens of defiant opposition supporters chanting anti-Pashinian slogans inside a police bus and a police station in Yerevan. They and all other detainees were expected to be released a few hours later. Armenia - Riot police detain an opposition protester in Yerevan, May 17, 2022. Ishkhan Saghatelian, an opposition leader, urged supporters to leave the streets at 11:30 a.m. and gather in the city’s France Square, the site of an opposition tent camp, in the evening. “We have fully accomplished the task set by us,” Saghatelian said in a video message broadcast on Facebook. “We have demonstrated that the people are in control of the situation.” Saghatelian said earlier that the opposition objective is to create “diarchy” that would make Pashinian’s resignation inevitable. The prime minister and his political allies have rejected the opposition demands for his resignation fuelled by his recent statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. 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.