Author: Elizabeth Jabejian

Azerbaijan warns of risks to Caspian energy exports from conflict with Armenia

Elizabeth Jabejian
Reuters
 
 
 
Margarita Antidze
 
 
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan warned on Saturday about security risks to the oil and gas it supplies to European markets due to the outbreak of hostilities at its border with Armenia.
 
FILE PHOTO: The logo of SOCAR is seen on a filling station in Bern, Switzerland May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo
 
Elshad Nassirov, vice president of Azeri state energy company SOCAR, said on a conference call some of the energy infrastructure involved in shipping Caspian oil and gas to world markets is located in the vicinity of the current military operations.
 
Fifteen servicemen from Azerbaijan and Armenia and one Azeri civilian have died since Sunday in clashes between the two countries, who fought a war in the 1990s over Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
Nassirov told the call that if they looked at a map they would see that clashes had taken place near some of its infrastructure. He said the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum gas pipeline and some other facilities were located not far from the territory where clashes had taken place.
 
Nassirov also referred to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the last stretch of the Southern Gas Corridor which also includes two other pipelines running via Georgia and Turkey – important because its completion means the whole corridor will be operational, reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian gas supplies.
 
“The pipeline will be ready and operational in time in October-November this year,” he said.
 
Armenia on Saturday also warned about security risks to the region coming from Azerbaijan after Baku said on Thursday it might strike the Metsamor nuclear power plant.
 
“This is a statement that should be unequivocally considered a crime against humanity … it should be given an appropriate international response and probe,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
 
Speaking on the conference call organised by U.S.-based think-tank the Caspian Policy Center, details of which were published on the group’s website, Nassirov called on the West to help protect its energy exports.
 
“I would use this opportunity to invite our colleagues in Washington and elsewhere to think about how fragile … this region is and to think how to provide … military and physical security to the corridor, which is providing energy security to Europe,” Nassirov said.
 
 
 
 

No panic in communities of Armenia’s Tavush province, situation under control – Governor

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 14:38,

YEREVAN, JULY 16, ARMENPRESS. Governor of Armenia’s Tavush province Hayk Chobanyan attaches importance to the maintenance of vigilance of community residents and all structures of civil protection as the situation can change at any moment.

“There is no panic in the communities. Today we asked the people to remain in shelters if possible. The situation is stable and under control. Thanks to the professional work of our Army we feel calmer in our villages and towns”, he said at a briefing.

Today early in the morning the Azerbaijani side resumed shelling at the bordering villages of Armenia’s Tavush province. Aygepar, Nerkin Karmiraghbyur, Chinari, Movses, Tavush villages and Berd town were under the target.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Azerbaijan raises spectre of war with Armenia, defends right to use force against separatists

Elizabeth Jabejian
Deccan Herald
July 7 2020
AFP, Baku, Jul 07 2020

 Azerbaijan on Tuesday raised the spectre of a fresh war with arch-foe Armenia and denounced stalled peace talks over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.

 The two ex-Soviet republics have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over the breakaway territory, which was at the heart of a bloody war in the 1990s.

 Since the fragile 1994 ceasefire, peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have been mediated by the so-called Minsk Group of diplomats from France, Russia, and the United States.

 "We are trying to be constructive and tolerant but negotiations are practically on hold today," President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with several TV stations.

 He said Azerbaijan would withdraw from the negotiations "if they yield no results." He did not provide further details.

 Citing the right to self-defence enshrined in the United Nations Charter, Aliyev rejected the negotiators' premise that "there is no military solution to the conflict."

 "We have proven our case in the international arena and on the battlefield. Everyone should remember the April fighting," he said, referring to deadly clashes in Karabakh that nearly spiralled into all-out war in 2016.

Ethnic-Armenian separatists seized Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a war that claimed 30,000 lives in the early 1990s, but the international community still views the region as part of Azerbaijan.

 Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia's entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the breakaway territory by force.

Read more at:

Moscow-allied Armenia has vowed to crush any military offensive.

 

Armen Benyan named new health minister of Russia’s Samara

Elizabeth Jabejian
Panorama, Armenia
July 9 2020
Health 13:58 09/07/2020World

Armen Benyan has been appointed Minister of Health of Russia’s Samara Oblast (region). On July 8, he was awarded a certificate, Tvsamara.ru reported.

The post was vacated after Mikhail Ratmanov submitted resignation in March to start a new job in Moscow, the source says. 

Armen Benyan is a doctor of medicine. Since April 2019, he was heading the Samara Regional Clinical Hospital, which turned into the main hospital fighting against COVID-19 in the region in spring 2020.  

680.3 billion drams in tax revenues in 1st quarter of 2020: State Revenue Committee presents data

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 11:35, 9 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 9, ARMENPRESS. 680.3 billion AMD in tax revenues have been ensured by the State Revenue Committee of Armenia in the 1st quarter of 2020, the SRC said in a statement.

“Revenues collected by the tax authority comprised 622.2 billion drams, whereas those collected by the customs authority comprised 123.4 billion drams. In the same period 65.3 billion drams were returned to the economic entities for the income tax aimed at servicing the VAT and mortgage loan interest rates.

In the 1st quarter of 2019, 712.8 billion drams in tax revenues have been ensured by the State Revenue Committee. The revenues collected by the tax authority comprised 602.8 billion drams, whereas those collected by the customs authority comprised 160.4 billion drams. In the aforementioned period 50.4 billion drams were returned to the economic entities for the income tax aimed at servicing the VAT and mortgage loan interest rates.

In the 1st quarter of 2010, compared to the same period of 2019, the decline in tax revenues comprised 17.6 billion drams or 2.3%”, the statement says.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

COVID-19: Netherlands allocates 200,000 Euros to Armenia

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 14:20,

YEREVAN, JULY 10, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of foreign affairs of the Netherlands made a decision to provide 200,000 Euros to Armenia to purchase much-needed equipment for fighting the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the Armenian foreign ministry said.

According to the July 9 agreement signed between the Dutch foreign ministry and the Armenian ministry of healthcare, the money provided within the framework of the assistance will be spent for purchasing three PCR testing devices, 100 hospital monitors and 1 biological safety camera.

The Armenian ministry of healthcare has already ordered the afore-mentioned equipment which will be delivered to Armenia in the nearest future.

557 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been registered in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 30,903, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

709 more patients have recovered. The total number of recoveries has reached 18,709.

11 people have died in one day, raising the death toll to 546.

The number of active cases stands at 11,471.

The number of people who had a coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 177 (7 new such cases).

So far, 129,166 people have passed COVID-19 testing.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

First Steering Committee meeting of the Armenia-Council of Europe 2019-2022 Action Plan

Elizabeth Jabejian
Council of Europe
July 9 2020

Strasbourg-Yerevan 7 July 2020

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“We have achieved significant results in the implementation of the Action Plan 2019-2022. We are grateful for the support of the donors. Armenia is firm in its commitment to the full implementation of the Action Plan,” stated Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Avet Adonts at the opening of the first Steering Committee meeting of the Armenia-Council of Europe 2019-2022 Action Plan on 7 July 2020. The meeting was held by video conference.  

Verena Taylor, Director of the Office of the Directorate General of Programmes of the Council of Europe thanked the Armenian partners involved in the implementation of the Action Plan as well as Council of Europe’s colleagues in Yerevan and in Strasbourg for their commitment. “The efficient continuation of the implementation of the Action Plan during the health crisis was possible due to the quick and efficient revision of the work plans.” she added.

The meeting brought together 85 participants including Paruyr Hovhannisyan Permanent Representative of Armenia to the Council of Europe, high-ranking representatives of the Armenian authorities, involved in the implementation of Action Plan projects, as well as the representatives of the Council of Europe Secretariat and the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan.

The participants exchanged views on the state of implementation of the projects in the areas of protecting and promoting human rights, ensuring justice, the rule of law and democratic governance. They positively assessed the progress of the Action Plan and confirmed their readiness to continue its implementation.

The Council of Europe 2019-2022 Action Plan for Armenia was adopted in January 2019 and officially launched in Yerevan in June 2019. The Action Plan is implemented by the Council of Europe Office in Armenia in cooperation with the relevant national stakeholders. Action Plan projects are backed by the European Union, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Fund to End Violence Against Children, Ireland and Liechtenstein.


Armenian MP compares Nikol Pashinyan with Navalny

Elizabeth Jabejian
News.am, Armenia
July 2 2020

17:58, 02.07.2020
                          

Independent deputy of the National Assembly of Armenia Tigran Urikhanyan has posted the following on his Facebook page:

“When a person who had introduced a parliamentary bill on Armenia’s exit from the Eurasian Economic Union, had considered the Collective Security Treaty Organization a nonsensical organization and had proclaimed Russia as the country to blame for the Four-Day Artsakh War of April 2016 came to power, it was necessary to realize that an Armenophobic nationalist like Navalny would appear on Armenian Public Television someday. It is clear that this is not only a manifestation of contempt towards a strategic partner, but also Armenia’s national and state interests, and balanced manifestation at that. And this is just the beginning.”

Artsakh president reaffirms commitment to the peaceful settlement of the conflict

Elizabeth Jabejian
Panorama, Armenia
July 4 2020

Artsakh Republic President Arayik Harutyunyan received on Saturday Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

As the Information Department at the President’s Office reported, a wide range of issues relating to foreign political challenges were on the discussion agenda. Particular reference was made to the latest developments around the Azerbaijani-Karabagh conflict settlement. Within this context, it was underscored that the destructive and aggressive rhetoric of the Azerbaijan's military political authorities deprives the parties of the opportunity to make progress in the peaceful settlement process.

President Harutyunyan reaffirmed the commitment of the official Stepanakert to the peaceful settlement of the conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk group and the need for full-fledged participation of the Artsakh Republic to the negotiations.

The police explained why Judge Hrant Nazaryan was not allowed into the building of the Constitutional Court

Elizabeth Jabejian
Arminfo, Armenia
July 3 2020

ArmInfo. Armenian police issued a  statement explaining the incident that occurred today at the building  of the Constitutional Court with Hrant Nazaryan. This was reported by  the police press service.

It should be noted that today Hrant Nazaryan was not allowed into the  building of the Constitutional Court of Armenia.

The police statement, in particular, notes that according to the  amendments to the Constitution of Armenia adopted by the parliament  on June 22, which entered into force on June 26, the powers of the  judges of the Constitutional Court, who have been in office for more  than 12 years, are terminated.

, the police statement  underlines. It should be noted that according to the amendments to  the Constitution, the powers of the three judges of the  Constitutional Court – Hrant Nazaryan, Felix Tokhyan and Alvina  Gyulumyan are terminated. Since June 26, the powers of Hrayr  Tovmasyan as chairman of the Constitutional Court have also been  terminated.