Monday, Armenia Posts Double-Digit Growth Armenia -- Workers at a newly opened textile factory in Yerevan, Novemer 1, 2019. Armenia’s economy grew by 12.6 percent last year on the back of soaring trade with and cash flows from Russia, according government data released on Monday. The Armenian government’s Statistical Committee registered the sharpest gains in trade and other services that generated more than half of the country’ GDP worth almost 8.5 trillion drams ($21 billion). The services sector excluding trade alone expanded by over 28 percent, according to it. By comparison, Armenian industrial output grew by about 8 percent while agricultural production was flat in 2022. Armenia was initially expected to be hit hard by the barrage of sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and other Western powers on Russia, the South Caucasus nation’s leading trading partner, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian-Armenian trade fell in March but recovered strongly in the following months as the Russian economy proved more resilient than expected. It almost doubled to $4.4 billion in January-November 2022, accounting for more than one-third of Armenia’s overall foreign trade. Armenian exports to Russia nearly tripled to just over $2 billion in the eleven-month period. They most probably included goods manufactured in third countries and re-exported from Armenia to Russia as a consequence of the Western sanctions. According to the Armenian Central Bank, individual remittances from Russia to Armenia quadrupled to almost $3.2 billion in January-November 2022. Much of that money is thought to have been deposited in local banks by tens of thousands of Russians who relocated to the South Caucasus country after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Visiting Yerevan in October, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov described Armenia as “one of the beneficiaries of the resetting of Russia’s economy and flows of goods and services” resulting from the sanctions. His then Armenian counterpart, Tigran Khachatrian, acknowledged Russian money’s “significant positive impact on our current economic activity.” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin praised the surge in bilateral trade when they met in Kazakhstan early this month. Mishustin suggested that Armenia can take even greater advantage of an exodus of Western companies from Russia. EU Starts New Monitoring Mission To Armenia-Azerbaijan Border • Nane Sahakian Belgium - European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, September 28, 2022. The European Union announced on Monday the launch of a new and more long-term monitoring mission to Armenia’s volatile border with Azerbaijan which is strongly opposed by Russia. It said that the 100 or so monitors sent by various EU member states will strive to “contribute to stability in the border areas of Armenia, build confidence and human security in conflict affected areas, and ensure an environment conducive to the normalization efforts between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” “The total -- exclusively civilian -- staff of the EUMA [EU Mission in Armenia] will be approximately 100, including around 50 unarmed observers,” the EU added in a statement. It did not specify whether the other members of the two-year mission will carry weapons. Recent news reports said that the EU monitors will include officers of the German police and the French gendarmerie. The EU already deployed 40 civilian monitors to Armenian border areas in late October on a two-month mission agreed during an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in in Prague. The agreement followed the September border clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces which left more than 300 soldiers dead. Armenia - EU monitors visit Gegharkunik region, October 18, 2022. The Armenian government asked for another monitoring mission in late December, saying that it would lower the risk of fresh armed incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The EU formally granted the request on January 23, drawing criticism from Russia as well as Azerbaijan. The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that EU monitors “can only bring geopolitical confrontation to the region” and accused the EU of seeking to “push back Russia's mediation efforts at any cost.” Earlier in January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rebuked Armenia for refusing a similar mission offered by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) during a November summit in Yerevan. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian declined the offer on the grounds that other members of the Russian-led military alliance refused to condemn Azerbaijan’s offensive military operations along the border. Pashinian gave another reason for the rebuff on February 8. He claimed that unlike the EU, the CSTO does not recognize Armenia’s current borders. Armen Baghdasarian, an Armenian political commentator, said Yerevan should take the Russian criticism very seriously. Armenian - Russian border guards stationed in Syunik province are inspected by Russian Ambassador Sergei Kopyrkin, May 24, 2022. “Russia will want to show that the EU mission is not effective and that security mechanisms proposed by the EU don’t work,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “The shortest way of showing that is [to provoke] new clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which the EU observers cannot influence in any way.” Baghdasarian suggested at the same time that the EU monitors could prevent another large-scale Azerbaijani attack on Armenia in the coming months. But he was skeptical about their longer-term impact, arguing that the EU has not given Yerevan any security guarantees. Pashinian indicated on February 8 that the European observers will also be monitoring Russian troops stationed in his country. He said Azerbaijan has told Western powers that its “aggressive actions” are a response to increased Russian military presence there. “Our Western partners started rebuking us that ‘you are planning aggressive actions because there is a buildup of Russian and Armenian troops planning to attack Azerbaijan and the poor Azerbaijanis have to seize [Armenian] border heights to counter that threat.’ We said, ‘OK, come and monitor on the ground and see if that is true,’” Pashinian added in remarks denounced by his domestic political opponents. Karabakh Leader Rejects Aliyev’s Condition For Talks • Ruzanna Stepanian • Karlen Aslanian Nagorno-Karabakh - Ruben Vardanyan, the Karabakh premier, addresses a rally in Stepanakert, December 25, 2022. Nagorno-Karabakh’s leadership has rejected Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s condition for direct negotiations between Baku and the authorities in Stepanakert. Speaking during the Munich Security Conference at the weekend, Aliyev said he will agree to such talks only if Ruben Vardanyan, the Karabakh premier, resigns and leaves “our territory.” Vardanyan is a “criminal oligarch” who was “smuggled” to Karabakh from Russia, he told a panel discussion with the prime ministers of Armenia and Georgia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian did not react to Aliyev’s condition during the discussion. A spokeswoman for Arayik Harutiunian, the Karabakh president, said Vardanyan’s current role is “Artsakh’s internal affair” and “can in no way be a topic of discussion for the government of Azerbaijan.” Lusine Avanesian told the Artsakhpress news agency that Aliyev himself is suspected “for good reason” of corruption and war crimes. Avanesian said his comments about Vardanyan are an attempt to legitimize Azerbaijan’s blockade of the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia. Vardanyan, 54, is a prominent Armenian billionaire who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s and 2000s. He was appointed as Karabakh’s state minister in November two months after renouncing his Russian citizenship. Baku condemned Vardanyan’s appointment, with Aliyev claiming that the former investment banker was sent to Karabakh by Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted in December that Moscow “has nothing to do” with Vardanyan. In recent weeks, there have been signs of a rift between Harutiunian and Vardanyan related to the blockade. A Karabakh opposition activist, Tigran Petrosian, claimed on Monday that Harutiunian has decided to sack Vardanyan. Neither leader commented on the claim. Aliyev and Pashinian attended the panel discussion in Munich right after their trilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The Azerbaijani leader said they agreed that Baku will continue to negotiate with Yerevan on a bilateral peace treaty while starting “contacts with Karabakh’s Armenian population.” “Also, it has been agreed with our international partners that there will be negotiations on the rights and security of Karabakh’s Armenian minority,” said Aliyev. He did not elaborate. Yerevan has repeatedly called for an “international mechanism” for such negotiations. Baku has opposed that until now. Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.