Monday, Armenian PM Admits ‘Tensions’ With Iran Iran - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi meets Armenia's Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian, Tehran, February 15, 2024. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian appears to have acknowledged that Armenia’s deepening ties with the European Union and the United States are causing unease in neighboring Iran. “Our relations with Iran are deep and Armenia remains committed to those relations,” Pashinian said during a weekend visit to Germany. “But this is one of those cases where not everything is clear.” “Our good relations with Iran are causing tensions in some places, while our good relations with other countries are causing tensions in Iran,” he added without elaborating. In recent months, Iranian leaders have repeatedly told their Armenian counterparts that Tehran strongly opposes the geopolitical presence of “extra-regional countries” in the South Caucasus. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi conveyed the same message to Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian as recently as on February 15. Any intervention of “outsiders” in regional disputes could only exacerbate, rather than resolve, them, Raisi said in a clear reference to the U.S. and the EU. This was construed by some Armenian commentators as a fresh warning to Yerevan which has been seeking closer security ties with the Western powers amid its unprecedented tensions with Russia. The latter has openly denounced Western efforts to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal, saying that their main aim is to drive Moscow out of the region. Germany - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meet in Municհ, February 17, 2024. Both Russia and Iran have criticized Armenia for hosting a U.S.-Armenian military exercise last September. The Islamic Republic is also believed to share Russian concerns about the EU’s monitoring mission along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan launched a year ago. Pashinian and his political team say they are “diversifying” Armenia’s traditional foreign and security policy in response to what they see Russia’s failure to meet its security commitments to its South Caucasus ally. Armenian opposition groups say Tehran’s stance is another reason why Yerevan should exercise caution in its dealings with the West. They argue that unlike the West, Iran could intervene militarily to prevent Azerbaijan from opening an extraterritorial corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik, the only Armenian region bordering the Islamic Republic. Iran regularly warns against attempts to strip it of the common border and transport links with Armenia. Russia, Armenia Also Disagree On Ukraine Ukraine - In this photo released by Russian Defense Ministry , Russian soldiers eliminate the mine danger in the city of Avdiivka captured by Russian forces. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian openly criticized Russia at the weekend for occupying and annexing Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory, underscoring the Armenian government’s deepening rift with Moscow. Pashinian voiced the criticism at the end of a visit to Munich during which he attended an annual conference on international security and met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British intelligence chief Richard Moore. He cited a December 1991 declaration in which Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and other newly independent Soviet republics recognized each other’s Soviet-era borders. “On the question of Ukraine, our position is that the Almaty declaration is the basis for recognition of our independence and territorial integrity,” Pashinian told members of the Armenian community in the southern German city. “Our logic is also valid in the case of Ukraine because that document applies to all of us. And if we demolish that, then we will also demolish everything.” “I said a long time ago that Armenia is not Russia's ally on the issue of Ukraine, and this is our sincere position,” he said. Russia reacted cautiously to Pashinian’s remarks. “Indeed, we have diametrically opposed points of view regarding what is happening in Ukraine and the conflict around Ukraine,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “This is not a secret, this is the well-known position of our Armenian friends. We do not agree with them on this and will persistently continue to explain that we are right.” Beglium - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba meet in Brussels, December 11, 2023. Armenian leaders were until now careful not to criticize Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent annexation of more Ukrainian territory. Armenia has repeatedly abstained from UN General Assembly resolutions denouncing Moscow’s actions. Pashinian’s administration appears to have begun changing its stance on the conflict in Ukraine last year amid its mounting tensions with Moscow. Pashinian made a point of talking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a European Union summit in Spain last October. A couple of weeks later, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, attended multilateral peace talks in Malta initiated by Ukraine and sponsored by Western powers. The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the “demonstrative anti-Russian gesture of official Yerevan.” That did not stop Grigorian from participating in the next round of the talks held in Switzerland last month. Pashinian embarked on the apparent rapprochement with Ukraine despite the latter’s strong support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In particular, Kyiv was quick to condemn the September 9 election by Karabakh lawmakers of the region’s new president, saying that it is “contrary to the rules and principles of international law.” The election came ten days before the Azerbaijani military offensive that forced Karabakh’s practically entire population to flee to Armenia. Baku Raps Pashinian After Munich Summit Germany - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosts talks between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Munich, February 17, 2024. Azerbaijan criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and again demanded major legislative changes in Armenia on Monday two days after his talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Munich. The Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders sounded satisfied with the results of the talks, with Aliyev calling them “constructive and useful.” Meeting with members of the Armenian community in Munich on Sunday, Pashinian confirmed that the foreign ministers of the two South Caucasus states will meet soon for further discussions on a bilateral peace treaty. He also said that both sides remain committed to their understandings on the basic parameters of that treaty reached during their earlier contacts organized by the European Union. Earlier this year, Yerevan accused Baku of walking away from those understandings and laying claim to Armenian territory. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Armenia itself has territorial claims to Azerbaijan. The ministry spokesman, Aykhan Hajizade, pointed to Pashinian’s Sunday remark that “Karabakh’s right to self-determination is not supported by the international community.” He said Pashinian should have said instead that the Armenian “claims to Azerbaijan's territory are groundless.” “This once again indirectly proves that the demands of the Armenian side are continuing,” added Hajizade. “In this regard, the claims to our territorial integrity and sovereignty reflected in the Armenian constitution and legislative acts should be removed.” Aliyev said on February 1 that Armenia should remove from its constitution a reference to its 1990 declaration of independence which in turn mentions a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. He reiterated on February 14 that he will not sign the peace treaty “if Armenia does not bring its legislation to a normal state.” Pashinian rejected those demands the following day. The Armenian premier himself declared last month, before Aliyev’s statements on the issue, that Armenia needs a new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. He went on to criticize the 1990 declaration. His political foes and other critics say that he wants to enact a new constitution under Azerbaijani pressure. Pashinian denies this. Another Armenian Bank Set To Change Hands Armenia - A view of an office building in Yerevan housing the headquarters of Ameriabank. A leading Georgian bank announced on Monday a $303.6 million deal to buy Armenia’s Ameriabank partly owned by Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian billionaire jailed in Azerbaijan along with several other former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh. The deal requires the approval of the Bank of Georgia’s multiple shareholders and the Central Bank of Armenia. In a statement, the bank’s British-registered parent company, Bank of Georgia Group (BOGG), said it would “significantly enhance the Group's presence and growth opportunities within a fast-growing and attractive market.” "This transaction is a significant milestone for the Group and a new chapter in our strategic development,” the BOGG chairman, Mel Carvill, was quoted as saying. “Ameriabank has a well-regarded and experienced management team, and I am delighted that they will stay on after the transaction is closed,” added Carvill. Ameriabank is one of Armenia’s largest banks with total assets worth $3.4 billion, compared with $11.7 billion held by the Bank of Georgia. Vardanyan owns, through a trust fund, almost 49 percent of Ameriabank, making him its biggest shareholder. The tycoon, who had made his fortune in Russia, briefly served as Karabakh’s premier in late 2022 and early 2023. He and seven other former political and military leaders of Karabakh were arrested by Azerbaijani security services last September during the mass exodus of the region’s ethnic Armenian population which followed an Azerbaijani military offensive. They remain imprisoned there on serious charges. Armenia has demanded their immediate release. Nagorno-Karabakh - Ruben Vardanyan leads a cabinet meeting in Stepanakert, January 3, 2023. “Ruben Vardanyan has nothing to do with the possible sale of the bank,” Mesrop Arakelian, an Armenian opposition figure linked to him, wrote on Facebook. Arakelian said takeover talks between BOGG and Ameriabank began in 2022. But he did not clarify whether Vardanyan approved the resulting acquisition of his bank. Ameriabank is the second Armenian bank which will likely change hands in the coming weeks or months. Two weeks ago, HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, announced the sale of its Armenian subsidiary to Ardshinbank, the largest in Armenia. HSBC said the deal, also subject to Armenian regulatory approvals, stems from its “strategy to redeploy capital from less strategic or low-connectivity businesses into higher-growth opportunities globally.” Reuters reported last May that the British bank is considering a possible exit from as many as a dozen countries after earlier announcements about selling off parts or all of its activities in France, Canada, Russia and Greece. Established in 1996, HSBC Armenia is the only local commercial bank controlled by a major Western banking group. The 18 banks operating in Armenia nearly tripled their combined profits, to a record 253 billion drams ($626 million), in 2022 amid a dramatic increase in cash flows from Russia resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The figure reportedly fell by 9 percent in 2023. 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