Wednesday,
Armenian Parliament Delays Anti-Tobacco Measures
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia -- Deputies from the ruling My Step alliance attend a parliament session
in Yerevan, June 28, 2019.
Ignoring strong objections from health experts, the National Assembly has
delayed by one year the entry into force of several provisions of a law designed
to curb widespread smoking in Armenia.
The law enacted in February 2020 among other things banned supermarkets, smaller
shops and kiosks from displaying cigarette packs on their shelves and
advertising e-cigarettes and vaporizers in any way. It also required tobacco
manufacturers to put starker health warnings on cigarette packs starting from
January 2021.
Several pro-government lawmakers, including the chairman of the Armenian
parliament committee on healthcare, proposed earlier this month that these
anti-smoking measures be delayed until January 2022 for economic reasons. The
parliament unanimously passed on Tuesday a relevant amendment to the law drafted
by them and strongly opposed by the Ministry of Health.
The main sponsor of the legislation, Babken Tunian, has cited the need to shore
up the Armenian economy which plunged into a deep recession following the
outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Tunian, who represents Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc and heads a parliament committee on economic
issues, has claimed the ban on promoting cigarette substitutes alone would cost
local retailers at least $15 million in annual revenue.
“Nobody has a problem with the fight against smoking,” he said during a
parliament debate on the issue. “We just need to achieve that [public health]
goal in a maximally balanced way, without creating further risks for the
economy.”
Deputy Health Minister Lena Nanushian dismissed these arguments. She insisted
that the economic cost of enforcing the restrictions would be minimal and that
Armenian businesses were ready to comply with them.
“The amendment submitted by the deputies will lead to an increase in the number
of smokers at the expense of our children,” Nanushian told the parliament. She
claimed that the one-year delay would cause 310 additional tobacco-related
deaths in Armenia.
The anti-smoking law drafted by the Ministry of Health already underwent some
changes before being passed by the National Assembly in February. In particular,
the parliament decided to postpone until March 2022 a ban on smoking in cafes,
restaurants and all other indoor public places.
Armenia is a nation of heavy smokers with few restrictions on tobacco sales and
use enforced to date. According to Ministry of Health estimates, 52 percent of
Armenian men are regular smokers. Medics blame this for a high incidence of lung
cancer among them. The smoking rate among women is much lower.
Armenian, Azeri Security Chiefs Meet In Moscow
Russia -- Alexander Bortnikov (R), the head of Russia's Federal Security
Service, hosts a meeting of his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, Moscow,
December 28, 2020.
The heads of Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s main security services have met in
Moscow to discuss the implementation of the Russian-brokered agreement to stop
the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, it emerged on Wednesday.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) reported that the head of Russia’s
Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, hosted a trilateral meeting
with his Armenian and Azerbaijani opposite numbers on Monday.
An NSS statement said the three men discussed “a number of pressing issues,
including the exchange of prisoners and the search for missing persons.”
The statement added that NSS Director Armen Abazian and the chief of
Azerbaijan’s State Security Service, Ali Naghiyev, reached “understandings on
works to be carried out in various directions.” It did not elaborate.
The FSB issued no statement on the meeting. Bortnikov visited Yerevan and Baku
earlier in December.
The Moscow meeting took place amid Baku’s claims that Armenian troops attacked
on Sunday an Azerbaijani army unit in Karabakh’s southern Hadrut district that
was occupied by Azerbaijani forces during the six-week war. Azerbaijan’s Defense
Ministry said one Azerbaijani and six Armenian soldiers were killed in the
firefight.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry strongly denied the allegations, saying that
Karabakh’s Armenian-backed Defense Army did not conduct any military operations
or violate the ceasefire otherwise.
The Defense Army likewise insisted on Wednesday that “not a single gunshot” was
fired by its troops in recent days. In a statement, it also argued that the
scene of the alleged incident is located dozens of kilometers from the nearest
section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani “line of contact.”
The Karabakh Armenian army said it is now examining videos posted on Azerbaijani
social media accounts purportedly showing the six Armenians allegedly killed on
Monday. It suggested that they may have been captured and executed earlier.
Pashinian To Continue Talks On Snap Elections
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Amenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses the nation, Yerevan,
November 14, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will continue political consultations on his
proposal to hold fresh parliamentary elections despite being rebuffed by the two
opposition parties represented in Armenia’s parliament.
The leaders of the opposition Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Bright Armenia (LHK)
parties, Gagik Tsarukian and Edmon Marukian, insisted on Pashinian’s resignation
when they separately met with him on Tuesday. They said the elections must be
held by a new, interim government.
“I cannot say that yesterday’s meetings were failed ones,” Pashinian’s press
secretary, Mane Gevorgian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday. “There
was a discussion, the interested parties listened to each other, and discussions
are continuing at this stage.”
Gevorgian said Pashinian will also meet with a nominally independent
parliamentarian leading a recently formed party as well as the heads of other
political groups that hold no seats in the National Assembly. She could not say
whether he plans further talks with the BHK and the LHK.
Pashinian declined to talk to reporters after meeting with Tsarukian and
Marukian in the parliament. Senior lawmakers from his My Step bloc could not be
reached for comment on Wednesday.
Tsarukian’s BHK is part of a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties
that have been holding anti-government demonstrations since the Russian-brokered
ceasefire that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10. In a weekend
statement, the Homeland Salvation Movement again demanded that Pashinian hand
over power to an interim government that would hold fresh elections within a
year.
The prime minister has repeatedly rejected the opposition demands.
Putin Looks To Strengthen Russian-Armenian Ties
RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin holds an end of the year meeting with
members of the government via a videoconference call at the Novo-Ogaryovo state
residence outside Moscow on December 24, 2020.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has called for a further deepening of
Russian-Armenian relations in New Year and Christmas messages sent to Armenia’s
leaders.
“The outgoing year was not an easy one, but we hope that the challenges it
brought along will be left behind,” Putin wrote to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian. “Importantly, we became fully convinced of the significance of
friendly, allied relations between our countries.”
“I am convinced that the further development of multifaceted Russian-Armenian
ties meets the fundamental interests of our two brotherly peoples and goes in
the mainstream of ensuring peace, security and stability in the South Caucasus
region,” he said.
“I would like to confirm the commitment to the further development of
Russian-Armenian allied cooperation,” read a separate message sent by Putin to
President Armen Sarkissian on Wednesday.
Russia already has close political, economic and military ties with Armenia. Its
strong geopolitical influence in the South Caucasus was highlighted by the
recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Moscow helped to stop the six-week war with an
Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement which was brokered by Putin on November
9.
The agreement led to the deployment of 2,000 Russian peacekeeping troops in
Karabakh. Russia also deployed soldiers and border guards to Armenia’s Syunik
region southwest of Karabakh to help the Armenian military defend it against
possible Azerbaijani attacks.
Putin also praised Russia’s relationship with Azerbaijan. In a New Year message
to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reported by the Kremlin, he said Moscow
and Baku should deepen their “mutually beneficial relations in all directions.”
The Russian leader also sent a congratulatory message to Robert Kocharian, a
former Armenian president facing coup and corruption charges rejected by him as
politically motivated. He has previously described Kocharian as a “remarkable
statesman who has done a great deal for the development of modern Armenia.”
Earlier this month Kocharian joined the Armenian opposition in blaming Pashinian
for the Armenian side’s defeat in the Karabakh war and demanding his
resignation. He visited Moscow later in December on what his office described as
a private trip.
Pashinian’s resignation has also been demanded by some prominent members of
Russia’s large Armenian community. They include billionaire businessman Samvel
Karapetian and Ara Abrahamian, the pro-Kremlin head of the Union of Armenians of
Russia.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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