RFE/RL Armenian Report – 06/19/2020

                                        Friday, 

Pashinian Blasts Azeri ‘Intransigence’ On Karabakh


Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks at a meeting in Yerevan, June 
19, 2020.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused Azerbaijan on Friday of hampering a 
compromise solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with “maximalist” demands 
and territorial claims to Armenia.

Pashinian launched unusually scathing attacks on Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev as he chaired a meeting of Armenia’s and Karabakh’s top security 
officials. He complained that Aliyev has never reciprocated his repeated calls 
for an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal that would satisfy all parties to the 
conflict.

“It is obvious that with such [Azerbaijani] approaches we cannot anticipate real 
progress in the negotiation process, especially given that they are accompanied 
by war threats or territorial and direct or indirect historical claims to the 
Armenian people,” said Pashinian.

Aliyev, he said, realizes that Baku’s attempts to end the conflict by force 
would provoke a “more than adequate response” from the Armenian military.

“For more than 15 years [Aliyev] has promised his own people to solve the 
Karabakh conflict through military force and under this guise they have spent 
billions of dollars which have very often … ended up on offshore accounts of 
known people,” Pashinian went on. “And now he cannot explain to his own people 
why the reality is as it is.”

“He realizes that a possible [military] adventure would not only cause 
Azerbaijan irreversible devastation but also dismantle his anti-democratic 
regime,” claimed the Armenian premier. “And so in order to deflect people’s 
attention and get out of this deadlock he raises the temperature of his 
statements.”

Pashinian seemed to allude to Aliyev’s recent renewed claims that much of 
modern-day Armenia, including Yerevan, lies in “historic Azerbaijani lands.”

Aliyev and Pashinian most recently met in February on the sidelines of an annual 
international security forum in Munich. They publicly traded accusations during 
a panel discussion on Karabakh held right after their brief talks.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers have since tried to keep the 
peace process alive despite the coronavirus pandemic. In late April, they held a 
joint video conference with the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading 
the OSCE Minsk Group.

“The Foreign Ministers and Co-Chairs agreed to remain in close contact and to 
continue negotiations in person as soon as possible,” read a joint statement 
issued at the time.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced last week that more such talks will be 
held later this month.



Pashinian Cancels Trip To Moscow


ARMENIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Armenian Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian during a meeting on the sidelines of a Eurasian 
Economic Union summit in Yerevan, Armenia October 1, 2019.

Citing the continuing coronavirus crisis, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
announced on Friday he will not travel to Moscow next week to attend a Russian 
military parade that will mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over 
Nazi Germany.

Russian President Putin invited him to the Red Square parade slated for June 24 
when they spoke by phone on June 1. Pashinian accepted the invitation.

In a letter to Putin publicized by his office, the Armenian leader said he 
looked forward to taking part in Russia’s World War Two Victory Day celebrations.

“But as it turned out afterwards, the existing epidemiological situation does 
not allow me to carry out this visit,” he wrote. “Based on that, I decided to 
refrain from travelling to Moscow. This was discussed in detail and agreed upon 
by our staffs.”

Pashinian added that he still hopes to meet with Putin soon.

Pashinian announced his decision five days after 75 Armenian soldiers flew to 
Moscow in preparation for their participation in the parade.

The Defense Ministry in Yerevan confirmed their participation on June 2. It said 
that during the annual display of Russia’s military might they will carry not 
only an Armenian national flag but also the banner of a Red Army division that 
mostly consisted of Armenians and reached Berlin in May 1945.

Pashinian’s spokeswoman, Mane Gevorgian, said later on Friday that Defense 
Minister Davit Tonoyan will “lead” the Armenian army contingent during the 
parade.

The parade, originally scheduled for May 9, was postponed by the Kremlin in 
April due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both Armenia and Russia have been hit 
hard by the pandemic.



Armenian Authorities Scale Back Gas Price Hikes

        • Robert Zargarian

Russia – A stop sign is fixed in front of the Russian Gazprom company's 
headquarters in Moscow, January 21, 2020

Public utility regulators rejected on Friday sizable increases in domestic 
prices of natural gas demanded by Armenia’s Russian-owned gas distribution 
network.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) only allowed the Gazprom 
Armenia network to raise its prices set for corporate consumers by an average of 
4.5 percent. It said the gas price for households will not go up for now.

The network fully owned by Russia’s Gazprom requested an 11 percent cumulative 
rise in its retail tariffs on April 1. It argued that the cost of Russian gas 
supplied to Armenian consumers has remained unchanged since Gazprom raised its 
wholesale price for Armenia from $150 to $165 per thousand cubic meters in 
January 2019. Gazprom’s Armenian subsidiary has incurred major losses as a 
result.

Gazprom Armenia offered to slightly cut the gas price for the majority of 
households, which currently stands at an equivalent of $290 per thousand cubic 
meters. However, it demanded the scrapping of a 36 percent price discount 
enjoyed by low-income families.

The PSRC objected to this demand even before formally ruling on the tariff 
application. It also urged the gas operator to settle for a more modest rise in 
tariffs set for manufacturing and agricultural firms.

Gazprom Armenia’s chief executive, Hrant Tadevosian, responded by warning on 
June 4 that the commission could put continued supplies of Russian gas to the 
country at risk.

Not surprisingly, Tadevosian criticized the PSRC’s decision on Friday, saying 
that the commission should have raised the average tariff by at least 7.8 
percent. But he did not warn of supply disruptions this time around.

Tadevosian indicated instead that his company will have to cut planned 
expenditures, presumably including capital investments. It pledged earlier to 
invest 230 billion drams ($474 million) in in the Armenian gas infrastructure 
over the next 10 years.

Shortly before Gazprom Armenia requested the price hikes, the Armenian 
government urged the Russian energy giant to cut its wholesale gas price for 
Armenia. It argued that global energy prices have collapsed because of the 
coronavirus pandemic.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin 
discussed the matter by phone on April 6. They apparently failed to reach an 
agreement.

Speaking at a May 19 video conference with fellow leaders of the Eurasian 
Economic Union (EEU) member states, Putin rejected Armenia’s and Belarus’s calls 
for the Russian-led trade bloc to set uniform energy tariffs which would reduce 
the cost of Russian natural gas imported by them.



Wealthy Backers ‘Ready To Bail Kocharian Out’

        • Tatevik Lazarian

Armenia -- Former President Robert Kocharian (R) talks to his lawyer Hayk 
Alumian during his trial, Yerevan, October 7, 2019.

Robert Kocharian’s office said on Friday that wealthy supporters of Armenia’s 
jailed former president are ready to help him post a $4.2 million bail needed 
for his release.

The Court of Appeals set the unprecedented bail amount on Thursday when it 
partly overturned a lower court’s refusal to free Kocharian pending the outcome 
of his ongoing trial. He has to pay the hefty sum by Saturday or remain under 
arrest.

The head of Kocharian’s office, Victor Soghomonian, hailed the ruling as a 
“first step towards restoring justice” while criticizing the highest ever bail 
set in the country’s history.

In a statement, Soghomonian said “hundreds of individuals” have expressed 
readiness to bail Kocharian out. They include “several wealthy entrepreneurs and 
philanthropists,” he said, adding that he will reveal their names soon.

Kocharian’s younger son Levon said, meanwhile, that the ex-president’s family 
cannot afford to make the required payment on its own.

Kocharian’s assets were frozen by law-enforcement authorities after he was first 
arrested in July 2018 on charges stemming from the 2008 post-election crackdown 
on opposition protesters in Yerevan. The ex-president noted this fact during a 
Court of Appeals hearing on Wednesday. He said he can only use Levon’s and his 
daughter Gayane’s properties worth 700 million drams ($1.5 million) as bail 
collateral.

One of Kocharian’s lawyers, Hayk Alumian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service 
(Azatutyun.am) on Friday that he is still not sure his client can pay up. 
Alumian said the defense lawyers may therefore challenge the bail amount in the 
higher Court of Cassation.

Prosecutors have already decided to appeal against bail granted to the man who 
ruled Armenia from 1998-2008.

Also planning to appeal to the Court of Cassation are relatives of nine people 
killed in the March 2008 unrest in Yerevan. One of their lawyers, Tigran 
Yegorian, added his voice to prosecutors’ claims that Kocharian could obstruct 
justice and exert “substantial influence” on witnesses if set free.

Kocharian, his former chief of staff and two retired army generals went on trial 
more than a year ago, accused of overthrowing the constitutional order. The 
ex-president also stands accused of bribery. He rejects all accusations leveled 
against him as politically motivated.


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