Wednesday,
Pashinian Sees ‘New Impetus’ To Russian-Armenian Ties
Armenia -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President
Vladimir Putin meet in Yerevan, October 1, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met twice with Russian President Vladimir Putin
in Yerevan late on Tuesday for talks which he said will give a boost to
Russian-Armenian relations.
The meetings followed a summit of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)
held in the Armenian capital earlier in the day.
Putin emphasized the “strategic character” of Russia’s close relationship with
Armenia and praised “positive results” of the summit in his opening remarks at
the first meeting with Pashinian held in a Yerevan hotel. He pointed to the
EEU’s trade agreements with other countries, notably Iran and Singapore.
“You are the one who made utmost efforts for such productive work,” he told
Pashinian. “I therefore want to congratulate and thank you.”
The Armenian premier described the meeting as “brilliant.” “Our strategic
relations are undergoing dynamic development,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
The two leaders met again at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport before Putin flew back
to Moscow at around midnight. In another Facebook post, Pashinian said on
Wednesday that their “detailed conversation” there “will give new impetus to
Russian-Armenian relations.” He gave no details of the talks.
Putin’s visit to Armenia, the first since the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” that
brought Pashinian to power, was officially confirmed only at the end of last
week. Some Armenian pro-opposition media outlets and commentators had
speculated that he may cancel the trip or avoid bilateral meetings with
Pashinian due to the Armenian authorities’ refusal to free Robert Kocharian, a
former Armenian president facing corruption and coup charges.
Putin again heaped praise on Kocharian when he congratulated the latter on his
65th birthday anniversary on August 31. He met with Kocharian’s wife Bella
shortly before his departure from Yerevan.
In early September the Armenian Migration Service fueled more talk of friction
between Moscow and Yerevan after granting asylum to a Russian anti-government
activist who moved to Armenia after serving a four-year prison sentence in
Russia.
The unprecedented move came almost one month after the Russian authorities
refused to extradite Mihran Poghosian, a former senior Armenian official
charged with corruption in Armenia. Moscow also refused late last year to
extradite Mikael Harutiunian, a former Armenian defense minister wanted by the
Armenian authorities on coup charges.
Putin Meets Kocharian’s Wife
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Supreme
Eurasian Economic Council in Yerevan, October 1, 2019.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the wife of Robert Kocharian, his
former Armenian counterpart arrested on controversial coup and corruption
charges, late on Tuesday at the end of his latest visit to Armenia.
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, and Kocharian’s spokesman, Victor
Soghomonian, confirmed Armenian media reports about the meeting but gave no
details. Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Soghomonian shed no light on
issues that were discussed by Putin and Bella Kocharian.
Putin reportedly spoke to her at the Russian Embassy in Yerevan right after
holding talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the sidelines of a
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) summit. The Russian president then headed to
Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport where held another meeting with
Pashinian before returning to Moscow.
The Yerevan daily “Hraparak” quoted a spokesman for Pashinian as saying that
the two leaders did not discuss Kocharian’s prosecution.
Putin has repeatedly signaled support for Kocharian ever since the latter was
arrested and charged in connection with the 2008 post-election violence in
Yerevan shortly after Pashinian came to power in last year’s “Velvet
Revolution.” The Russian Foreign Ministry openly alleged political motives
behind the criminal case in July 2018. Armenia’s government and law-enforcement
authorities deny such motives.
Russia -- Armenian President Robert Kocharian (L) with Russian President
Vladimir Putin meet in Sochi, 24Jan2007
Putin heaped praise on Kocharian when he congratulated the latter on his 65th
birthday anniversary on August 31. He described the former Armenian president
as a “true friend of Russia” who had strengthened Russian-Armenian relations
and contributed to regional security.
Putin already made a pointing of telephoning Kocharian on his previous birthday
anniversary. The phone call came shortly after the former Armenian president
was released from custody.
Kocharian was again arrested in early December. He received New Year greetings
from Putin two weeks later.
The ex-president, who ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, was also charged with
bribery early this year. He denies all accusations leveled against him as
politically motivated.
Kocharian was again released from jail five days after going on trial on May
13. The Russian ambassador to Armenia, Sergey Kopyrkin, met with him on June
13, prompting criticism from Pashinian’s political allies. Kopyrkin was
summoned to the Armenian Foreign Ministry because of that.
Kocharian was arrested for a third time on June 25 after Armenia’s Court of
Appeals overturned a lower court’s May 18 decision to free him pending the
outcome of his trial.
Armenian officials maintain that Moscow’s gestures of support for Kocharian
have not damaged Armenia’s close political, economic and military ties with
Russia. The ex-president’s loyalists claim the opposite.
Tsarukian Refuses To Back Bid To Oust Constitutional Court Head
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- Gagik Tsarukian and other deputies from his Prosperous Armenia Party
attend a parliament session in Yerevan, July 9, 2019.
Gagik Tsarukian said on Wednesday that his opposition Prosperous Armenia Party
(BHK) will not join the ruling My Step bloc in trying to oust the embattled
chairman of the country’s Constitutional Court, Hrayr Tovmasian.
Senior My Step lawmakers drafted last month a parliamentary resolution urging
the eight other members of the court to replace Tovmasian. It denounces, among
other things, Tovmasian’s handling of Robert Kocharian’s appeals against the
legality of coup charges brought against the former Armenian president.
The Constitutional Court partly accepted one of those appeals on September 4.
It declared unconstitutional an article of the Armenian Code of Procedural
Justice used against Kocharian.
The non-binding resolution needs to be backed by at least 80 members of the
132-seat National Assembly. My Step controls 88 parliament seats, making its
passage all but a forgone conclusion.
The bloc led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has been trying to get the two
other political groups represented in the parliament to also back it. One of
them, the Bright Armenia Party (LHK), said late last month that its 18 deputies
will vote for the measure.
Armenia -- Gagik Tsarukian talks to journalists, Yerevan, October 2, 2019.
Tsarukian said that he and the 25 other BHK deputies will not vote on the
proposed measure because he believes that it is based on “very weak” legal
grounds. He did not elaborate.
“It’s up to the Constitutional Court to decide [Tovmasian’s fate,]” Tsarukian
told reporters. “Our parliamentary group has decided not to take part in that
vote.”
Lilit Makunts, My Step’s parliamentary leader, criticized the BHK’s stance,
saying that it is “incomprehensible.” She insisted that the ruling bloc has put
forward “weighty” arguments in support of removing Tovmasian.
The 90-page resolution backed by the Armenian government accuses Tovmasian of
committing serious procedural violations during the consideration of
Kocharian’s appeal. It says the court chairman should not have dealt with the
case also because of his personal ties to one of Kocharian’s lawyers and past
membership in the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).
Pashinian attacked Tovmasian in July, saying that the latter was elected
Constitutional Court chairman by the former parliament in March 2017 as a
result of a dubious political deal cut with HHK leader and then President Serzh
Sarkisian. Incidentally, BHK lawmakers voted against Tovmasian at the time.
Tovmasian will lose his post if at least six other Constitutional Court judges
back the parliamentary resolution and vote against him.
Russia, Armenia Negotiating On New Gas Price
• Ruzanna Stepanian
• Artak Khulian
Russia -- A view shows a sign of a petrol station of Gazprom Neft company and
the headquarters of the Russian natural gas producer Gazprom in Moscow,
February 24, 2015
Russian and Armenian officials are holding negotiations over a new agreement on
the price of Russian natural gas delivered to Armenia, Deputy Prime Minister
Mher Grigorian said on Wednesday.
Russia’s Gazprom giant raised the gas price by 10 percent, to $165 per thousand
cubic meters, following similar talks concluded in late December. The figure
was set for this year, meaning that the two sides need to negotiate a new
supply contract for 2020 and possibly the following years. Reports in the
Armenian press have claimed that Gazprom is planning another, shaper price hike
for Armenia.
Grigorian gave few details of the ongoing Russian-Armenian talks, saying only
that they are being conducted “in a constructive format.” “Before the end of
this year we will have a final idea about their outcome,” he said during the
Armenian government’s question-and-answer session in the parliament.
Grigorian assured an opposition lawmaker that a possible price rise would not
be immediately felt by Armenian consumers. “I am sure that we will not have a
situation where we have to organize a discussion and declare in December that
the gas tariff will go up starting from January 1,” he said.
“Whatever agreement is reached it will not be subject to implementation the
next day, the next month or even three months later. I don’t think that the
tariff will be revised upwards during the winter months,” added the deputy
premier.
The issue was on the agenda of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s talks with
Russian President Vladimir Putin held in Yerevan on Tuesday.
“They could not have bypassed the gas topic,” Pashinian’s spokesman, Vladimir
Karapetian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “Naturally, it was discussed by the
two leaders as a component of [Russian-Armenian] economic cooperation, but I
think that the final, commercial decisions will be made by economic entities.”
Pashinian personally announced the increased wholesale price of Russian gas
last December following a series of discussions with Putin. Despite that price
increase the retail cost of gas supplied to Armenian households and corporate
consumers has remained unchanged so far.
Press Review
“Aravot” says that Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in Tuesday’s
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) summit in Yerevan despite “ominous” predictions
made by critics of the Armenian government. “Those who claimed the opposite and
probably rejoiced at that prospect two or three weeks ago will certainly not
say ‘Sorry, we were wrong,’” writes the paper. It says this is sad because
political affiliations and positions must not be placed above Armenia’s
international standing and national interests. The holding of the EEU summit in
Armenia and Putin’s as well as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s participation
in it are “positive facts for us,” it says.
Lragir.am says that Putin underlined “the strategic character of
Russian-Armenian relations” at his meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
held on Tuesday. He said that those relations have been cemented by the
“centuries-old history of contacts between our peoples.” Putin also thanked
Pashinian for “good results” of the EEU summit. The publication says these
statements disproved claims made by former Armenian officials and other critics
of the current government in the run-up to the summit.
“Zhamanak” says that the existing situation in Armenia is profoundly at odds
with what is happening in Russia and other EEU member states. “After the Velvet
Revolution Armenia is really interested in the entrenchment of a democratic
value system, anti-corruption policies and the formation of a legal governance
system,” writes the paper. “On the other hand, other EEU member states have
their own internal sociopolitical realities and systems based on
totalitarianism, autocracy, corruption, and that is not a secret.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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