Wednesday,
Karabakh Leader ‘Negotiating With Baku’
• Shoghik Galstian
Armenia - Samvel Babayan speaks to journalists in the Armenian parliament,
.
A political rival of Samvel Shahramanian claimed on Wednesday that
Nagorno-Karabakh’s exiled president is negotiating with Azerbaijan’s government
on the possible return of the Karabakh Armenians displaced as a result of the
recent Azerbaijani military offensive.
“Samvel Shahramanian, whom you and the opposition camp love very much, is now
negotiating, calling Baku every day,” Samvel Babayan, who had led Karabakh’s
army in the 1990s, told reporters.
Babayan declined to elaborate on his claims, saying only that they are based on
what he has heard from Karabakh lawmakers also based in Armenia. He did not name
any of them.
Shahramanian did not react to the claims in the following hours. He could not be
reached for comment throughout the day.
Shahramanian said in late October that Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population,
which fled to Armenia following the September 19-20 offensive, could and should
be able to return to its homeland. He claimed that both Russia and the West are
“interested” in that.
“I think that Azerbaijan is also interested in that because they are accused by
the international community of forcibly deporting the population. And I think
that negotiations should start on that issue,” he told Karabakh television.
The Karabakh leader has made no further public statements since then. He avoided
any contact with the press after testifying last week before an Armenian
parliamentary commission tasked with investigating the 2020 war with Azerbaijan.
Babayan also answered questions from pro-government members of the commission
boycotted by the Armenian opposition. The controversial general, who has been
accused by his detractors of collaborating with Armenia’s leadership, spoke to
reporters right after his testimony.
Shahramanian was elected president by Karabakh lawmakers just ten days before
the Azerbaijani offensive. Babayan’s party was the only local political group
that opposed his election.
The Azerbaijani government says that the Karabakh Armenians are free to return
to their homes if they agree to live under Azerbaijani rule. Only a few dozen of
them are thought to have stayed in the depopulated region.
Armenian Government Report Finds Fall In Living Standards
• Robert Zargarian
Armenia - Shoppers at a supupermarket in Yerevan.
Disposable personal income in Armenia fell by an average of about 3 percent last
year despite double-digit economic growth, according to the national Statistical
Committee.
An annual household survey conducted by the committee found that the median
per-capita income shrank from 76,000 drams to 74,000 drams ($185) per month
after years of steady increase. The government agency said most Armenians
interviewed by it feel that they need more than twice as much money to lead a
good life.
The drop in living standards contrasts with statements by Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian and other senior government officials touting Armenia’s 12 percent GDP
growth in 2022 and its purported impact on the population.
“With any figures, we can substantiate that people’s incomes have risen
significantly during our rule,” Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian said earlier
this year.
Kerobian on Wednesday refused to comment on the findings of the Statistical
Committee released late last week.
“I need to look into [the report,]” he told journalists. “I haven’t read it.”
Tadevos Avetisian, an opposition parliamentarian, said the report exposed the
highly uneven distribution of benefits of the Armenian economy’s rapid growth.
It has mainly translated into “super profits” in the banking and services
sectors, he said.
“Just because commercial bank profits tripled [in 2022] doesn’t mean that
people’s incomes in, say, [the small town of] Berd or Chambarak rose faster than
consumer prices,” Avetisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The double-digit growth was primarily driven by massive cash inflows from Russia
sparked by Western sanctions against Moscow. In particular, Armenian
entrepreneurs took advantage of the sanctions, re-exporting used cars, consumer
electronics and other goods manufactured in Western countries to Russia.
This explains why Armenian exports to Russia tripled in 2022 and nearly doubled
to $2.6 billion in January-September 2023. By contrast, Armenian industrial
output contracted about 1 percent in the nine-month period.
Moscow Expects Pashinian’s Presence At Next Ex-Soviet Summits
Russia - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting between Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Moscow, November
21, 2023.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman expressed hope on Wednesday that
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will attend fresh meetings of the leaders of
ex-Soviet states that will take place in Saint Petersburg in late December.
Dmitry Peskov said Putin could meet Pashinian on the sidelines of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)
summits.
“If Mr. Pashinian travels there -- and they expect him like everyone else --
then there will be a great opportunity to talk,” Peskov told reporters.
Pashinian did not attend the last CIS summit held in Kyrgyzstan’s capital
Bishkek in early October, underscoring Yerevan’s growing tensions with Moscow.
He went on to boycott last week’s summit of the leaders of Russia and other
ex-Soviet states making up the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Pashinian’s office has not yet clarified whether he will fly to Saint Petersburg
next month. Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, suggested earlier
this week that the Armenian leader will not skip the upcoming summits.
Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian said on Tuesday that Pashinian should
attend them because Armenia will be taking over the rotating presidency of the
EEU, a Russian-led trade bloc.
In recent weeks, the Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly accused Pashinian
of “ruining” Russian-Armenian relations and reorienting his country towards the
West. For its part, Yerevan says that Moscow has failed to honor its security
commitments to Armenia.
Russia Defends Curbs On ‘Toxic’ Food Imports From Armenia
Armenia - Workers at a commercial greenhouse in Ararat province, 19Apr2017.
Citing food safety concerns, a Russian government agency confirmed on Wednesday
that it is blocking the import of many food products from Armenia amid Yerevan’s
deepening geopolitical rift with Moscow.
The Rosselkhoznadzor agricultural watchdog alleged a sharp increase in the
presence of “harmful quarantined organisms” in Armenian vegetables, fruit and
flowers inspected at Russia’s main border crossing with Georgia.
“From November 24 to 26 alone, 36 cases of contaminated flowers, cucumbers,
dried fruits, grapes, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, apples, and
pears being imported into Russia were identified,” it said in a statement.
“This indicates a decrease in oversight on the part of the Food Safety
Inspectorate of Armenia and poses a threat to the phytosanitary well-being of
Russia,” Rosselkhoznadzor charged, adding that it has asked the Armenian side to
“immediately take comprehensive measures to prevent shipments of contaminated
products to Russia.”
Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian said relevant authorities in Yerevan
are already looking into Rosselkhoznadzor’s claims. He said Armenian officials
will meet with their Russian colleagues later this week to try to “understand
changes in the [Russian food safety] regulations that have caused such a change
in statistics” alleged by the Russian watchdog. The latter reported only about
40 violations by Armenian food exporters in the course of 2022, Kerobian told
journalists.
Armenia - Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian, July 7, 2022.
The Rosselkhoznadzor statement insisted that the “rules for inspection and
clearance of cargo coming from Armenia have not changed.”
Many drivers of Armenian trucks transporting food and other goods to Russia via
Georgia say, however, that their cargo is now subjected to much stricter and
lengthier sanitary checks on the Russian side of the Upper Lars border crossing.
Hundreds of such trucks remained stuck at Upper Lars on Wednesday. Dozens of
others were denied entry to Russia and had to return to Armenia in recent days.
Armenian opposition figures believe that Moscow is thus retaliating against
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s decision to boycott last week’s Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Minsk, which highlighted a
significant deterioration of Russian-Armenian relations. Government officials in
Yerevan have so far been careful not to make such claims in public.
Russia is Armenia’s number one trading partner and main export market for
Armenian agricultural products, prepared foodstuffs and alcoholic drinks. Their
exports totaled $844 million in the first nine months of this year, according to
government data.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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