Monday,
U.S. Sanctions Another Armenian Firm
• Robert Zargarian
U.S. -- Department of Commerce sign seal emblem at headquarters building in
Washington, January12, 2019.
The United States has added an Armenian trading company to its long list of
entities accused of helping Russia evade U.S. sanctions imposed since the
Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. Department of Commerce blacklisted the company, Medisar, along with 69
Russian entities on May 19. It accused them of supporting Russia’s military and
defense industry.
Founded in 2001, Medisar is based in Yerevan. It owns a large warehouse located
there.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, a company executive, who did not want to
be identified, acknowledged that Medisar has imported chemicals and laboratory
equipment from the United States and the European Union and re-exported them to
Russia. He insisted that company has not violated any Armenian laws and that the
Armenian authorities have been aware of its operations.
Company representatives said they do not know yet the likely impact of the U.S.
sanctions on Medisar’s continued activities. It was not clear whether they will
stop doing business with Russia.
Medisar, which paid over $1 million in taxes last year, is the second
Armenian-registered entity blacklisted by the United States. The other firm,
TAKO, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets
Control (OFAC) in April.
TAKO was registered in May last year about three months after the outbreak of
the war in Ukraine. According to the Armenian state registry, it is fully owned
by a Russian national and specializes in wholesale trade in electronic and
telecommunications equipment and parts.
U.S. officials apparently pressed the Armenian government to comply with the
sanctions during a series of meetings held earlier this year.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian admitted on Monday that the issue is on the
agenda of his government’s dealings with the U.S. and the EU. He said that
despite its “strategic” relations with Russia and membership in the Russian-led
Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia “cannot afford to be placed under Western
sanctions.”
“Therefore, in our relations with Russia we will act on a scale that allows us
to avoid Western sanctions,” he said, adding that Yerevan is “in constant
communication with our Western partners.”
In a joint “compliance note” issued in March, the U.S. departments of Justice,
Treasury and Commerce said that third-party intermediaries have commonly used
China, Armenia, Turkey and Uzbekistan as “transshipment points” to Russia as
well as Belarus.
Russian-Armenian trade skyrocketed last year, with Armenian exports to Russia
nearly tripling to $2.4 billion. Goods manufactured in third countries and
re-exported from Armenia to Russia are believed to have accounted for most of
that gain.
Pashinian Defends Arrest Of Fallen Soldier’s Mother
• Anush Mkrtchian
Armenia - Protesters demand the release of Gayane Hakobian outside the prime
minister's office in Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian sought to justify on Monday the arrest of a
grief-stricken woman accused of attempting to “kidnap” his son which has sparked
street protests and widespread condemnation in Armenia.
Gayane Hakobian, whose son Zhora Martirosian was killed during the 2020 war in
Nagorno-Karabakh, was detained last Wednesday after an argument with Ashot
Pashinian. Citing the latter’s testimony, Armenia’s Investigative Committee said
that Hakobian tricked the young man into getting in her car after she ran into
him outside a court building in Yerevan.
Pashinian Jr. jumped out of the car shortly after Hakobian drove it towards the
Yerablur Military Pantheon, according to the law-enforcement agency.
Hakobian strongly denies the accusations carrying between four and eight years
in prison. Her lawyers say she simply wanted to talk to the 23-year-old.
A Yerevan court approved her pre-trial detention on Saturday, triggering an
angry demonstration attended by several dozen other parents of fallen soldiers
and hundreds of their sympathizers. The parents announced afterwards a nonstop
sit-in outside the prime minister’s office in the city’s central Republic Square.
Armenia - Protesters stand outside a court building in Yerevan during a hearing
on Gayane Hakobian's arrest, May 20, 2023.
The protest continued on Monday as Nikol Pashinian held a news conference amid
tightened security in and around the building.
The prime minister made clear that he will not tell his son to withdraw the
complaint lodged against Hakobian because they both believe that “in Armenia all
issues must be solved in a legal way.”
“If there was no crime, let them close the case,” he told a news conference. “If
there was a crime, let them finish the investigation and send the case to court
and let the court make a decision.”
Pashinian did not comment on why Hakobian has to be kept under arrest pending
the outcome of her trial.
He also declined to answer a question from the protesters which was put to him
by a reporter. They wanted to know “what you felt when ordering the arrest.”
“Gayane is not guilty and the accusation brought against her is fabricated,” one
of the protesting parents told journalists. “I consider her a political
prisoner.”
“So his son cannot be told to sit in a car so that we just talk to him and they
consider that kidnapping. But who will be held accountable for the deaths of my
and Gayane’s sons and the 5,000 other boys?” said another.
Armenia - People demonstrate in support of Gayane Hakobian, May 20, 2023.
Armenian opposition leaders and other critics of the government claim that
Pashinian ordered Hakobian’s arrest in a bid to muzzle the families of deceased
soldiers who have staged demonstrations over the past year to demand his
prosecution on war-related charges. Several female opposition parliamentarians
visited the woman in custody at the weekend.
Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian also condemned the woman’s arrest, saying
that it is an “even greater disgrace” than a recent incident during which
Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian spat at a heckler in Yerevan.
Ter-Petrosian said that the Armenian authorities are only heightening political
tensions in the country with their “impudent and short-sighted actions.”
“If things continue like this, a much sadder, if not explosive, prospect awaits
our country,” he warned in a statement.
The Armenian Apostolic Church likewise expressed “deep concern” at Hakobian’s
prosecution and called for her release from custody.
Armenian PM, Church Trade Fresh Barbs
Armenia – Catholicos Garegin II leads Easter mass at St. Gregory the Illuminator
Cathedral, Yerevan, April 9, 2023.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has accused the Armenian Apostolic Church of
meddling in politics, prompting a scathing response from the office of its
supreme head, Catholicos Garegin II.
“Nothing prevents them [the church] from setting up a party and embarking on
political activities through that party,” Pashinian said during a visit to
Armenia’s Tavush province. “That would be more honest towards voters, and they
would be on the same plane with other political rivals.”
“When the state and the church mix together there is nothing more dangerous than
that. The state must mind its own business, the church must mind its own
business,” he told a group of local schoolchildren in remarks publicized on
Saturday.
The church was quick to hit back at Pashinian, underlining its strained
relationship with the Armenian government.
“If some people want to practice ecclesiology, they can try to get admitted to
the Theological Seminary; of course, if they overcome the educational threshold
set for admission and present convincing arguments about their good health,”
said Archbishop Arshak Khachatrian, the chancellor of the church’s Mother See in
Echmiadzin.
Pashinian’s relationship with the ancient church, to which the vast majority of
Armenians belong, has increasingly deteriorated in recent years and especially
since the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Garegin and other senior clergymen
joined the Armenian opposition in calling for Pashinian’s resignation following
Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war.
The Catholicos last month defended those calls and deplored the prime minister’s
statements on the Karabakh conflict condemned by the opposition as
pro-Azerbaijani.
A pro-government parliamentarian responded by accusing the Armenian Church of
interfering in political processes. She also denounced Garegin’s homily read out
during the Easter mass at Yerevan’s Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral on
April 9.
“When justice and truth cease to be the core of our undertakings and activities
in state and public life, we will continue to face manifestations of pilatism,”
Garegin told hundreds of worshippers during the mass.
Pashinian Confirms Readiness To Accept Azeri Control Of Karabakh
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks during a news conference in
Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Monday gave the clearest indication yet that
he has agreed to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh through
a peace treaty currently discussed by Yerevan and Baku.
“If we and Azerbaijan correctly understand each other, Armenia recognizes
Azerbaijan’s 86,600-square-kilometer territorial integrity, assuming that
Azerbaijan recognizes Armenia’s 29,800-square-kilometer territory,” Pashinian
said, repeating statements made following his May 14 meeting with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev.
“The 86,600 square kilometers include Nagorno-Karabakh,” he told a news
conference. “But it must also be noted that we are saying the issue of the
rights and security of Karabakh’s Armenians must be discussed in a
Baku-Stepanakert format.”
Pashinian again stressed the need for the “creation of international mechanisms”
for such talks between the Azerbaijani government and Karabakh’s leadership.
Yerevan, he explained, is specifically seeking international guarantees against
“ethnic cleansing” in the Armenian-populated region which he said is planned by
Baku.
While expressing readiness for dialogue with Baku, the authorities in
Stepanakert have repeatedly rejected any settlement that would restore
Azerbaijani control over Karabakh.
Armenia - Armenian opposition activists rally outside the border village of
Kordnidzor in support of Nagorno-Karabakh, May 20, 2023.
In a joint statement with Armenia’s leading opposition groups issued last week,
the five political parties represented in the Karabakh parliament warned
Pashinian against formally recognizing Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan. They
said that such a deal would be “devoid of legal basis.”
Despite this warning, Pashinian made clear that he hopes to sign the
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty “as soon as possible.” He said that Yerevan
presented Baku with fresh proposals regarding the remaining sticking points
after marathon talks held by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers
outside Washington earlier in May.
“We are now waiting for their reaction,” added the Armenian premier. He did not
disclose those proposals.
Pashinian and Aliyev are scheduled to meet again in Moscow on Thursday. They
will hold on June 1 another meeting in Moldova which will be attended by
European Union chief Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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