Friday, May 19, 2023
Russia Sounds Caution On Armenian-Azeri Peace Deal
May 19, 2023
Russia - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosts talks between his Armenian
and Azerbaijani counterparts, Moscow, May 19, 2023.
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan have narrowed their differences
on a bilateral peace treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on
Friday after hosting fresh talks between them in Moscow.
But he suggested that the two sides need to restore Armenian-Azerbaijani
transport links, start delimiting their long border and bolster the ceasefire
regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone before they can finalize such a
treaty.
Lavrov held separate talks with Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun
Bayramov of Azerbaijan before sitting down with them in a trilateral format.
“Work on the peace treaty is undoubtedly fundamental,” he told the press after
the trilateral meeting. “But our partners confirmed today that without solving
the issues of delimitation, unblocking transport and economic links and an
overall improvement of the security situation in both Karabakh and on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border it’s very hard to make progress on concrete aspects
of the peace treaty. We discussed all this together.”
Lavrov said in that regard that a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani task force
dealing with practical modalities of the transport links will meet next week
after a long pause.
“We hope that a positive result will be achieved as a result. The parties are
already very, very close to a final agreement,” he said without elaborating.
Lavrov further announced that a separate Armenian-Azerbaijani group working on
the border delimitation and demarcation with Russian assistance will also resume
its activities soon.
“Regarding the peace treaty, I think that on a number of articles which we
discussed today we managed to bring the two sides’ understandings closer to a
common vision,” added the top Russian diplomat.
As Lavrov spoke Bayramov and Mirzoyan continued their negotiations in his
absence. Mirzoyan’s press office said afterwards that the two ministers had a
“constructive exchange of views on issues on which the parties have
differences.” It did not disclose those issues.
U.S. - Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts talks between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign minsters in Arlington, Virginia, May 4, 2023.
According to the U.S. State Department, Bayramov and Mirzoyan made “tangible
progress” towards the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal during their four-day
talks held outside Washington earlier this month.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
tried to build on that progress when they met in Brussels on May 14. Pashinian
afterwards reaffirmed Armenia’s readiness to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity through the document currently discussed by the two sides.
The two leaders are due to meet again in Moscow on May 25 at Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s invitation.
Another Armenian-Azerbaijani summit is slated for June 1. Aliyev and Pashinian
will be joined by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf
Scholz and European Union chief Charles Michel. Analysts believe that the United
States and the EU are pressing the parties to sign the far-reaching deal.
Moscow has repeatedly accused the West of trying to use the Karabakh conflict to
drive Russia out of the South Caucasus. It maintains that Armenian-Azerbaijani
agreements brokered by Putin are the only viable blueprint for settling the
conflict.
Yerevan Elections Slated For September 17
May 19, 2023
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - A view of the Victory Bridge in Yerevan, February 28, 2023.
The next municipal elections in Yerevan will take place on September 17,
according to Armenia’s Central Election Commission (CEC).
Speaking to state television, the CEC chairman, Vahagn Hovakimian, said the
election date, which has to be confirmed by the Armenian government, is mandated
by an Armenian law on local self-governance.
Yerevan residents will to go the polls to elect a new municipal assembly that
will in turn appoint the city’s mayor.
Yerevan’s last mayor, Hrachya Sargsian, stepped down on March 17 after only 15
months in office. The Armenian capital has since been effectively run by Tigran
Avinian, a deputy mayor nominated by the ruling Civil Contract party for the
vacant post.
Sargsian’s resignation is believed to have been designed to boost the party’s
and Avinian’s chances in the upcoming polls.
Avinian has kept a high profile for the last two months, chairing meetings with
municipal officials, issuing instructions to them and talking to ordinary
citizens. Critics accuse him of abusing his position to prematurely conduct his
election campaign.
The 34-year-old vice-mayor allied to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian dismissed
these claims as he chaired a recent session of the current city council.
Unlike several fringe parties, none of Armenia’s leading opposition groups has
nominated a mayoral candidate so far. Artsvik Minasian, a senior member of the
main opposition Hayastan alliance, said on Friday that it clarify its intentions
later this month.
The last Yerevan elections were held in September 2018. Pashinian’s bloc won the
overwhelming majority of seats in the city council and installed TV comedian
Hayk Marutian as mayor. The council ousted Marutian in December 2021 after he
fell out with Pashinian.
French Firm To Halt Armenian Brandy Exports To Russia
May 19, 2023
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - Grapes delivered to a Yerevan Brandy Company facility in Ararat
province, 7Sep2015.
Armenia’s leading brandy producer heavily dependent on the Russian market may
face an uncertain future after its French parent company’s decision to stop
exports of all its international brands to Russia.
The Pernod Ricard giant announced the decision, clearly linked to Western
sanctions against Moscow, late last week.
“We will also cease the distribution of our portfolio in Russia, a process that
we anticipate will take some months to complete,” it said in a statement.
Pernod Ricard’s worldwide subsidiaries include the Yerevan Brandy Company (YBC),
Armenia’s largest brandy maker and wholesale buyer of grapes. The YBC could not
be reached for comment on Friday.
The Russian news agency TASS quoted an unnamed YBC source as saying that the
company is continuing brandy shipments to Russia for now. The source did not
elaborate.
“I have not yet received official information, but it seems official: the
Yerevan Brandy Company will stop its exports to Russia,” Armenian Economy
Minister Vahan Kerobian told lawmakers on Thursday.
Most of the brandy produced by YBC and other Armenian firms is exported to
Russia. These exports reportedly totaled $180 million in 2021.
Armenia - Export-bound brandy stored at the Yerevan Brandy Company.
According to Avag Harutiunian, the head of the Armenian Union of Winemakers, YBC
has accounted for roughly one-third of grapes grown in the South Caucasus
country and purchased by local producers of wines and spirits.
“There will now be very serious tensions in our market,” Harutiunian told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“We have to wait and see what the situation will be,” Kerobian said in this
regard. He acknowledged that Pernod Ricard’s decision will have an adverse
impact on Armenian grape farmers.
The minister promised that the Armenian government will mitigate the anticipate
fallout. But he did not specify concrete steps that could be taken by the
government.
Other Armenian brandy makers already cut back on grape purchases last year,
sparking protests by their suppliers. Some of those grape farmers said last fall
that they will have to cut down their vineyards.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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