Thursday, June 9, 2022
Authorities Probe ‘Misuse Of COVID-19 Funds’
June 09, 2022
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- A healthcare worker clad in protective gear looks after COVID-19
patients at the Surb Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, Yerevan, June 5, 2020.
An Armenian law-enforcement agency has pledged to investigate allegations that
the Ministry of Health misused government funds provided to it in 2020 for the
fight against COVID-19.
In a recent report, the Armenian parliament’s Audit Chamber suggested that
ministry officials embezzled and/or wasted some of the 26 billion drams ($59
million) in emergency funding allocated following the onset of the coronavirus
pandemic.
In particular, the chamber said, the ministry inflated the number of
hospitalized COVID-19 patients and channeled 900 million drams into hospitals
that did not treat people infected with the respiratory disease. It also
questioned the integrity of relevant state procurements, saying that many of
them were administered without tenders.
Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) responded to the Audit Chamber report
by opening a formal criminal case. The ACC said it is conducting an
investigation into embezzlement, fraud and abuse of power. It has not yet
identified any suspects in the case.
The alleged abuses were committed during former Health Minister Arsen Torosian’s
tenure.
Torosian, who is now a parliament deputy representing the ruling Civil Contract
party, has already ruled out any corrupt practices. He said earlier this week
that he looks forward to cooperating with investigators.
“For me, it is very strange that the Audit Chamber does not understand
elementary facts,” he told Factor.am. “Frankly, I see a bias in that report.”
Torosian was sacked by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in January 2021.
Throughout his tenure he was criticized not only by opposition groups but also
some pro-government parliamentarians.
The criticism intensified during the pandemic which hit Armenia hard. Torosian
repeatedly defended his and other government officials’ response to the
unprecedented health crisis.
Minister Wants Action Against Opposition ‘Hooliganism’
June 09, 2022
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - Health Minister Anahit Avanesian speaks during a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan, November 4, 2021.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian has asked the Armenian parliament to take
disciplinary action against its opposition members who staged an angry protest
in her office after she praised riot police using force against anti-government
protesters.
The three female parliamentarians burst into the office on Wednesday as
Avanesian met there with other officials from the Armenian Ministry of Health.
They brandished photographs of the remains of Armenian soldiers killed in the
2020 Karabakh war that were kept in degrading conditions at a morgue outside
Yerevan.
“Shame on you!” one of the lawmakers, Kristine Vartanian, shouted during the
incident caught on a mobile phone camera.
It was a stark reminder of Avanesian’s perceived role in a scandal that erupted
one year ago. Photographs circulated on social media showed plastic bags filled
with human remains lying on the ground in the morgue’s basement, which was not
refrigerated to prevent their decomposition. They caused uproar in the country,
with many accusing the authorities of dishonoring the soldiers.
Avanesian publicly apologized to soldiers’ families at the time amid opposition
calls for her resignation. The minister retained her post, unlike the morgue’s
director and two other employees fired as a result.
Avanesian condemned the intrusion as an act of “hooliganism” and “ugly show.”
She called for a parliamentary ethics inquiry into Vartanian and the two other
lawmakers.
Vartanian scoffed at the demand on Thursday, saying that it is part of the
Armenian authorities’ efforts to intimidate leaders and participants of more
than month-long protests organized by the country’s main opposition forces.
Armenia - Riot police clash with opposition protesters in Yerevan, June 3, 2022.
The incident occurred the day after Avanesian praised security forces’ response
to the virtually daily rallies in Yerevan demanding Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s resignation. She specifically defended the use of force against
opposition supporters who tried to march towards the parliament building on June
3.
The police fired stun grenades during the violent clashes with protesters which
left dozens of people from both sides injured. Amateur videos posted on social
media showed some police officers kicking and punching protesters arrested by
their colleagues. None of those officers is facing criminal proceedings.
Law-enforcement authorities have instead pressed assault charges against 15
opposition supporters. Opposition leaders reject the accusations as politically
motivated.
“I am sometimes surprised by the patience of our police officers, their strong
nerves,” Avanesian told reporters on Tuesday. “They are doing a great job. I
want to thank them.”
Opposition Leaders Appeal To Russia’s Lavrov
June 09, 2022
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - An opposition demonstration in Yerevan, June 9, 2022.
Armenian opposition leaders on Thursday urged Moscow to stop doing business with
Armenia’s government as they rallied supporters during Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan.
The demonstrators marched towards the Armenian Foreign Ministry building in the
morning shortly before the start of Lavrov’s talks with his Armenian counterpart
Ararat Mirzoyan held there. The authorities deployed scores of riot police and
other security forces to keep them from approaching the building.
The crowd did not attempt to break through the massive police cordon, with
opposition leaders addressing it outside Armenian prosecutors’ headquarters
close to the Foreign Ministry. They all welcomed Lavrov’s trip.
“We are here to communicate a very clear message,” said Ishkhan Saghatelian, the
main speaker at continuing anti-government protests in Yerevan. “The people who
present themselves as Armenia’s authorities and with whom you negotiate have
nothing to do with the will and position of the Armenian people. Any agreement
reached with them is null and void.”
Another opposition leader, Hayk Mamijanian, urged Moscow to do more to ensure
the release of Armenian prisoners remaining in Azerbaijan and the withdrawal of
Azerbaijani forces from an area in Karabakh seized by them in March.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, Yerevan, June 9, 2022
The Armenian opposition staged similar protests during recent official visits to
the country by the presidents of Lithuania and Montenegro. The protests were
part of a “civil disobedience” campaign which the opposition launched on May 1
in a bid to force Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to resign.
Opposition leaders accuse Pashinian of helping Azerbaijan regain full control
over Nagorno-Karabakh. They also claim that he is ready to cede Armenian
territory to Baku as a result of a planned demarcation of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Mirzoyan downplayed the significance of the protests at a joint news conference
with Lavrov. He said the opposition drive to topple the government has not
attracted popular support. Echoing statements by other Armenian officials, the
foreign minister also said that Pashinian’s political team won a mandate to run
the country for the next five years in the 2021 general elections.
Moscow reacted cautiously to the protests on May 5. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov expressed hope that political stability in Armenia will be restored soon.
Russia Backs Armenian Control Over Transit Routes For Azerbaijan
June 09, 2022
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Russian counterpart
Sergei Lavrov meet in Yerevan, June 9, 2022.
Armenia will control a road and a railway that will connect Azerbaijan with its
Nakhichevan exclave through an Armenian region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said during a visit to Yerevan on Thursday.
Lavrov revealed at the same time that the Armenian government has agreed to
simplify border crossing procedures for Azerbaijani cargo and travellers that
will use the planned transit routes.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are to reopen their border to commercial and passenger
traffic under the terms of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped their
six-week war for Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly claimed that the deal calls
for a permanent land corridor for Nakhichevan passing through Armenia’s Syunik
province that also borders Iran. Aliyev said in December that passage through
the corridor must be exempt from Armenian border controls. Yerevan rejected his
demands.
The disagreements effectively suspended the work of a
Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani commission dealing with practical modalities of the
transport links.
The commission met in Moscow late last week for the first time in five months.
The Russian government said its Armenian and Azerbaijani members “brought closer
their positions on issues of border, customs and other types of control.”
Speaking after talks with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Lavrov said
that Baku, Moscow and Yerevan are now finalizing a deal on a “simplified” border
control regime for the road to Nakhichevan.
“It will be simplified but it will precisely be based on the recognition of the
sovereignty of Armenian territory,” Lavrov told a joint news conference with
Mirzoyan. “There can be no ambiguities here.”
“We have a sense that our Armenian and Azerbaijani colleagues proceed from
this,” he said.
Lavrov did not specify whether people and cargo using the Syunik roads will be
checked by Armenian customs and immigration officers. It is also unclear if the
same simplified regime will be put in place for the transit of Armenian goods
through Azerbaijan.
Mirzoyan stressed that “all roads that will be opened or reopened will remain
under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the country through which they pass.”
He said Baku and Yerevan have yet to work out “many details” of the transport
links.
“But discussions are continuing and I think that we will have mutually
acceptable solutions,” added the Armenian minister.
Neighboring Iran has repeatedly voiced support for full Armenian control over
all roads passing through Armenia. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reaffirmed
Tehran’s stance in a June 1 phone call with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
The issue was high on the agenda of Pashinian’s last meeting with Aliyev held in
Brussels on May 22. European Council President Charles Michel, who hosted the
meeting, said the two leaders agreed on “principles of border administration,
security, land fees but also customs in the context of international transport.”
He did not elaborate.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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