Author: Christine Harutyunian

 11:47, 9 May, 2020

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent congratulatory messages to the leaders of CIS-member States: President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, President Sooronbay Zheenbekov of Kyrgyzstan, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, President Igor Dodon of Moldova, and President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan.

In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Premier Mikhail Mishustin and the leaders of CIS-member States have sent congratulatory messages to the Prime Minister of Armenia on the 75th Anniversary of Victory in World War II.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in his congratulatory message:

“Dear Nikol Vovayevich,
I cordially congratulate you and all citizens of Armenia on the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Our peoples hold sacred and piously revere the memory of our heroes whose bravery on the frontline and selfless work in rear helped us celebrate victory over Nazism and reinstate peace for future generations.

I am convinced that the strong ties of friendship forged in wartime will continue to serve as a reliable basis for the furtherance of Russian-Armenian allied relations, strengthening multilateral partnership, and will help us defy through joint efforts modern challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic.

I would like to convey to Armenian Great Patriotic War veterans and all those who served in rear my best wishes for good health, happiness, wellbeing and long life.”

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s congratulatory message reads:

“Dear Nikol Vovayevich,

I cordially congratulate you on the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

On this solemn day, we pay tribute to all those Russians and Armenians who fought side by side against the fascist invaders for the sake of future generations’ peaceful life.

I am confident that the war-tested friendship will serve as a reliable basis for the strengthening of Russian-Armenian cooperation and partnership, as well as for the furtherance integration within the Eurasian Economic Union.

Dear Nikol Vovayevich,

I would like to convey to the veterans living in Armenia words of deep gratitude, my best wishes for well-being, robust health and longevity.”

 13:57, 8 May, 2020

YEREVAN, MAY 8, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan commented on the incident in the Parliament on May 8 when a debate turned into a brawl between opposition lawmaker Edmon Marukyan and ruling faction MP Sasun Mikayelyan, the Ombudsman’s Office told Armenpress.

“Rules that concern everyone, but are of special importance for the political majority that received a mandate of high trust and each of its representative.

One should not use speech insulting the person’s dignity as it leads to dangerous consequences, doubles the insult and hatred and provokes violence.

This demand specifically concerns persons holding public position or conducting public activity, who should be restrained in their political or any other speech and should not allow any speech that would generate hatred and create tension. Similarly this applies also to the political speech or a debate.

Whether we want it or not, the speech and behavior in the Parliament become an example for the society.

Therefore, here one must specially keep the boundaries of own status and contribute to guaranteeing solidarity and mutual respect in the society with the example of his/her own behavior.

Violence or threat of violence are impermissible in principle, no matter when and from whom it is done or whom it is addressed to.

Eventually, the main goal of all of us is to completely rule out, eliminate insult and humiliation of dignity, any kind of speech that would generate hatred”, the Ombudsman said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:10,

YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. Ucom founder Hayk Yesayan has issued a statement saying he is stepping down from Ucom with intentions to launch a new company.

“I am ceasing to deal with Ucom effectively immediately. My steps are conscious. I know the sequence of my actions and I am sure that the team who created Ucom will create a new Ucom as well, which will be a better one. And we will take this path. Its name won’t be Ucom, it will be named Unet, like we had planned to name the company in the beginning,” Yesayan said in the statement.

Recently news reports claimed that hundreds of Ucom employees had resigned. On April 14, Ucom co-founders, brothers Hayk and Alexander Yesayan (holding 6% shares) announced that they have offered more than 34 billion drams to the remaining owners of the company for the rest of the shares, in order for them to have decisive voice in the decisions of the shareholders. On April 15 it was announced that the Board of Directors of the company has appointed a new CEO, Ara Khachatryan. However, the Ministry of Justice State Registry of Legal Persons announced that the official registration of the new CEO of Ucom is being delayed for 20 days.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 13:47,

YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. President-elect of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan has affirmed his readiness to cooperate with all political forces.

“I am ready to cooperate with everyone. I have mentioned the agenda – a general social-economic program, the Karabakh issue, security, and harmonious work with the government of Armenia. I am ready to cooperate with everyone around this agenda. Soon I will start meetings with parliamentary political parties, and I am open for cooperation with non-parliamentary political parties as well,” Harutyunyan said.

According to preliminary results of the second round of the presidential election, Harutyunyan garnered 88% of votes.

Reporting and writing by Norayr Shoghikyan

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 09:24,

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Foreign minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on April 15 had a telephone conversation with Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias, the Armenian MFA told Armenpress.

The two FMs discussed the actions of both sides on preventing the further spread of the novel coronavirus and overcoming its socio-economic consequences.

On behalf of the Armenian government minister Mnatsakanyan expressed his support to the brotherly Greek people in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlighting the role of international cooperation and mutual support in addressing the global challenges the Armenian and Greek FMs emphasized the importance of Armenia-Greece-Cyprus trilateral platform.

The ministers also exchanged views on regional issues.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:08,

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan is going to hold a press conference on the 2016 April War when the state of emergency is over in the country, the 3^rd President told reporters today in the Parliament.

Serzh Sargsyan has been summoned to the Parliament to take part in the session of the parliamentary committee investigating the 2016 April War.

“Dear reporters I am more interested than you in communicating with our media outlets for a simple reason that I have nothing to hide, and the time has come that I am ready to respond to all your questions. I applied to the committee requesting to hold the session after the completion of the state of emergency, but the committee found it appropriate to hold the session on April 16, therefore, I am deprived of that opportunity because the issue is so important that I will not satisfy you by answering one-two questions. Immediately after the completion of the state of emergency I will invite all media outlets and will answer to all your questions connected only with the April events”, he told reporters.

Today’s session of the parliamentary committee investigating the April War is being held in a closed-format. The committee will provide the video recording of the session to the 3^rd President.

Reported by Norayr Shoghikyan

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:14,

YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. Armenian healthcare minister Arsen Torosyan says the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in the country is normal and assures that the healthcare system is capable to deal with the treatment of such number of patients.

“I urge our citizens not to condition the situation only by numbers, the number of coronavirus infected people is normal, and our healthcare system is capable of dealing with their treatment. We should not allow a situation when one day the designated hospitals will have no place to accept critical patients as a result of which we will start treating them in non-hospital conditions”, the minister said.

Torosyan stated that the average age of deaths from coronavirus in Armenia is 75.

According to the latest data, the total number of people infected with coronavirus in Armenia is 937. The death toll is 12. 5,144 people tested negative so far. The number of recovered patients has reached 149.

On March 16 Armenia declared a 30-day state of emergency to battle the spread of COVID-19. The state of emergency is effective until April 14, 17:00.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and named the virus COVID-19. 

According to the data of the World Health Organization, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in more than 210 countries and territories.

Reported by Lilit Demuryan

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 13:37, 9 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 9, ARMENPRESS. The Russian side has not yet responded to the proposal of Armenia’s deputy prime minister Mher Grigoryan to start talks on reducing the price of gas on the border, Deputy PM Grigoryan said today at a press conference.

“There is no response yet. I think there is also a problem with working days and weekend, and the Russian side will give a response a bit later”, Grigoryan said.

On March 31, on behalf of the Armenian government, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan sent a letter to Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Management Committee at Gazprom PJSC Alexey Miller requesting to launch talks on the change of price of gas supplied to Armenia.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan