Author: Hovhannisian John

Road rage suspect caught in Armenia
By Jason Kandel, Staff Writer

Los Angeles Daily News
Nov 12 2004

One of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives has been captured and returned
to Los Angeles four years after fleeing to Armenia after killing a
man during a vicious road rage incident in Universal City, authorities
said Thursday.

Shahen Keshishian, 32, a former truck driver from Burbank and a U.S.
citizen, was arrested this week by Armenian authorities at his
apartment in Yerevan, the country’s capital.

FBI agents and Glendale police, who were in the country on unrelated
business, located Keshishian after detectives in the Los Angeles
Police Department’s North Hollywood Division asked for assistance
tracking him down.

They quickly located him and informed Armenian authorities, who
arrested him for overstaying his visa. Keshishian was promptly handed
over to U.S. authorities.

“I am pleased as punch. I am just so elated,” said LAPD Detective
Martin Pinner of the North Hollywood Division’s homicide unit, who
returned from Armenia on Wednesday with the suspect.

“This arrest, I do believe, came as a result of policemen talking
to policemen, and massive cooperation with other agencies in two
different countries.”

LAPD Deputy Chief Ronald Bergmann, who oversees the LAPD’s Valley
Bureau, praised the work of North Hollywood Division detectives.

“This is an example, once again, of how we do police work in the
Valley. We try to always get our man. North Hollywood did a great
job putting it all together.”

FBI officials said the arrest was a warning to criminals who have
fled the country.

“This arrest should send the message to individuals who flee to
Armenia and other countries that it’s not a safe haven,” said FBI
spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

Keshishian has been charged with murder and is expected to appear in
court Nov. 24. He is being held at the Twin Towers Jail in lieu of
$1 million bail.

He is accused of running down freelance film editor Michael Craven,
44, of Canoga Park with a black Chevrolet Suburban on April 29, 2000,
after the men became involved in a road rage confrontation along the
Hollywood Freeway.

Craven had been driving on the freeway after dinner with a friend when
several men in their 20s pulled up in the black Suburban and threw
eggs. One of the drivers had apparently cut in front of the other.

Authorities say Craven pulled to the side of the freeway just south
of Barham Boulevard to confront the suspect, and the Suburban driver
stopped behind him. A passenger in the Suburban then threw a beer
bottle at Craven’s Jeep.

Police said that after Craven got out of his Jeep, the Suburban was
seen backing up, then driving forward, running Craven over. He died
hours later.

Minutes after the incident, Keshishian was ticketed for speeding,
but police did not connect him with the earlier road-rage case. A
month later, officials issued a $25,000 reward for his capture and
released a composite sketch.

Three months after the killing, Keshishian was listed as one of the
FBI’s most wanted.

The Suburban was a key clue that eventually led to the international
manhunt, Pinner said. An unidentified person had fraudulently bought
the SUV and loaned it to Keshishian the night of the murder.

“We researched every Suburban purchased in the time frame around the
murder,” Pinner said. “We looked for him all over the U.S. with the
help of the FBI and tons of agencies. Boston, New York. I spoke to
people in Texas. We did a lot of work.”

Detectives continue to search for the passengers in the SUV that night.

“It was the passenger throwing the stuff at the victim,” Pinner said.
“It’s a felony. The passenger is also going to jail. I’d love to
figure out who he is.”

ISN, Switzerland
Nov 8 2004

Moscow proposes joint S Caucasus railroad

Russia seeks to revive the South Caucasus Railroad and gain control
over its operations in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.

By Vladimir Socor for The Jamestown Foundation (08/11/04)

The Russian government proposes to create a joint entity of the
Russian, Georgian, Armenian, and Azeri railways for operating the
South Caucasus Railroad, from the Russian-Georgian border via
Abkhazia to Tbilisi, Yerevan, and Baku. If created, such a joint
company would give Russia a preponderant role in the operations of
the three countries’ main railroad artery. Visiting the region on 1-3
November, Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin and Russian
Railways president Gennady Fadeyev discussed the project with top
government officials there. It envisages setting up a joint operating
company to manage and upgrade the railroad, and a joint bank to
finance restoration and upgrading, particularly of the Abkhaz section
in Georgia. The governments of Russia and the three South Caucasus
countries would finance part of that work and would also invite
private capital investments into the joint company. The whole project
hinges on reconstructing that section, which was severely damaged and
idled during the 1992-1993 Russian military intervention in Georgia.
As a result, Armenia and Azerbaijan lost their rail links to Russia.
In the intervening decade, Armenia was hardest hit by the loss. The
Russian government did not attach high priority to restoring the
connection, but does so now as part of an effort to establish a
North-South transport corridor and land bridge to Iran.

A response to EU West-East transit corridor?
Levitin and Fadeyev characterized the initiative as part of Russia’s
answer to the EU’s planned West-East transit corridor to Asia via the
South Caucasus. Moscow seeks to undercut it through a North-South
transit corridor via the South Caucasus and Iran. Levitin and Fadeyev
called for urgent action on the railroad, moving ahead of the EU: “If
we don’t start dealing with problem, we could lose huge transport
flows […] This project’s defining significance is a geopolitical
one.” In September this year, the state-owned Russian Railways
reopened the Abkhaz section for partial service from the
Russia-Georgia border station Vesyolaya to Sokhumi. The “reopening”
is in fact a seizure of Georgian state property on Georgian territory
without consulting Tbilisi, and indeed over its protests. Fadeyev
attended triumphant celebrations of the reopening, and Russian
Railways now runs the line as part of its network. The move has also
completed the erasing of the Russia-Georgia border in the Abkhaz
sector, now Russian-controlled on both sides. In Yerevan, Fadeyev
signed letters of intent with his counterpart, Ararat Khimrian, and
with Prime Minister Andranik Margarian on the two countries’
participation in the proposed four-country joint company. Moscow and
Yerevan will urgently task an expert group to draw up investment and
business plans and will contribute to reconstruction of the
railroad’s Abkhaz and Armenian sections. This approach reflects
Russia’s proprietary attitude toward the Georgian state railway’s
Abkhaz section. Moscow expects Yerevan to continue lobbying with
Tbilisi to go along with this. Russia also seems to expect that
Armenia can afford to co-finance or borrow for the project.

Downplaying the political implications for Georgia
In Tbilisi, Levitin signed with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania
and Economics Minister Kakha Bendukidze a memorandum of understanding
on creating expert groups for the project, focusing on restoration of
the railroad’s Abkhaz section. Bendukidze seemed to embrace this
initiative. A free-market, free trade enthusiast, he
characteristically downplayed the project’s political and policy
implications for Georgia. By contrast, Zhvania called for caution,
citing Abkhazia’s unstable political situation. He suggested
postponing not only the decision, but even the creation of the expert
group, pending clarification of the situation in Abkhazia. Moscow’s
initiative in effect discards the Russian-Georgian March 2003 Sochi
agreement, whereby reconstruction of the Abkhaz section was to
proceed in accord with the Georgian government and “in a synchronized
manner” with the safe return of Georgian refugees to their homes in
Abkhazia, beginning with the Gali district. The seizure of the
Vesyolaya-Sokhumi railroad stretch canceled a part of the Sochi
agreement. The whole agreement would be destroyed if the
reconstruction-repatriation linkage were broken. Georgian Foreign
Minister Salome Zourabishvili insists on maintaining that linkage to
promote Georgia’s minimal objectives in Abkhazia: return of refugees,
Georgian-language schools, and a Georgian police presence in Gali.
Apart from the reconstruction-repatriation linkage, Georgia currently
has almost no leverage to achieve those goals. Moreover, the
Vesyolaya-Sokhumi link, fully under Russian and Abkhaz control, might
become the railway equivalent of the Roki highway tunnel in South
Ossetia – that is, an avenue for contraband, unchecked migration, and
arms deliveries. Russia’s apparent sense of urgency – in its
perceived geopolitical interests – to rebuild that railroad gives
Georgia an opportunity to seek three elementary quid-pro-quos
(pending a political settlement in Abkhazia): safe return of
refugees, Russian recognition of Georgian ownership of the railroad’s
section in Abkhazia, and joint control of the Vesyolaya-Sokhumi line.

–Boundary_(ID_fRhIx49mXWT6hu1VKRZNDA)–

Azeri president praises UN Food Program official for activities

Lider TV, Baku
8 Nov 04

[Presenter] President Ilham Aliyev has received the representative of
the UN World Food Programme in Azerbaijan, Cherif Amin Zaher. The head
of state spoke highly of the UN World Food Programme representative’s
activities in Azerbaijan and thanked him for his personal contribution
to improving the social conditions of those who were driven out of
their lands as a result of Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan.

Touching upon the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh,
the head of state said the government is taking a number of measures to
improve the social conditions of refugees and IDPs who are suffering
as a result of this [conflict]. He stressed that the main task for
the Azerbaijani leadership is to settle this conflict, which is a
painful problem for our nation, and to secure the return of over a
million refugees and IDPs to their lands.

US diplomat urges Armenia to resume private TV programme

Source: Aravot, Yerevan
8 Nov 04

“We are concerned that the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty newscast [of
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service broadcast on Kentron TV] has been taken off
the air of Armenian TV channel,” US deputy representative to the OSCE,
Paul W. Jones, has said at the headquarters of the OSCE in Vienna.

“We have learned that the decision to take the newscast off the air
became possible as a result of the political pressure on the manager
of the TV company. We hope that the programme ‘Liberty’ will soon
be resumed as a sign of Armenia’s recognition and respect for freedom
of speech in line with the OSCE principles.”

Interfax
Nov. 5, 2004

NATO secretary general to discuss cooperation prospects with Armenia

Yerevan. (Interfax-AVN) – NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
will discuss prospects of bilateral cooperation of the Alliance and
Armenia during his visit in Yerevan scheduled for Friday.

Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Jean Fournet told
reporters in Yerevan that the secretary general would like to discuss
issues pertaining to more active involvement of Armenia in NATO’s
Partnership for Peace program.

He said that it is often required to meet the leader of the country at
home to feel and understand the country proper and the position of its
leader.

He recalled that NATO included the South Caucasus into the sphere of
its strategic interests, and added that the Alliance has enjoyed rapid
development of the relations with countries in the region.

As of now, he said, NATO offers its partners to develop an own plan of
individual cooperation with the Alliance to make it possible for them
to cooperate with the organization to the extent they want.

He added that a liaison officer in the South Caucasus is expected to be
appointed soon.

The NATO secretary general already appointed a NATO representative in
the South Caucasus.

Armenian leadership has repeatedly been saying that the country is
looking forward to deeper cooperation with the Alliance. According to
Yerevan, such cooperation will in no way affect the Russian-Armenian
military and strategic partnership.

NKR IS ABLE TO EXPORT WATER

STEPANAKERT, November 4 (Noyan Tapan). At present the NKR water
resources give a possibility of exporting them to the Republic of
Azerbaijan, which will be profitable for the republic from both
economic and political viewpoints. The experts of NKR President’s
Staff hold this opinion. In their affirmation, NKR has a great store
of potable water, it even has a surplus store. According to their
calculations, the average annual flow of Artsakh’s main river reaches
10.3b cubic meters and stores of water subject to export make 1.5b
cubic meters a year. 17.8 thousand cubic meters of water falls per
capita here.

According to the same source, Azerbaijan is the last among South
Caucasian countries in terms of water resources per capita. Need of
water in the agricultural sphere makes 3.7b cubic meters and during
years of drought 4.74b cubic meters in this country.

Armenian company leads talks on chemical giant’s future

Mediamax news agency
5 Nov 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian company Flash will from now on conduct talks with Russian
investors on the sale of chemical giant Nairit, Armenian Central Bank
Chairman Tigran Sarkisyan told a briefing in Yerevan today.

Tigran Sarkisyan recalled that Nairit’s shares belong 100 per cent to
Haykapbank [Armenian communications bank] and the Flash company is
carrying out the programme to revive the bank, Mediamax reports. The
programme to revive the bank is supervised by the IMF, which is
demanding that the process be finished by the end of this year.

Mediamax news agency recalls that on 16 April this year an agreement
was signed at the Armenian Central Bank on the sale of 100 per cent of
Haykapbank’s shares to Russia’s Volgaburmash holding
company. Addressing a briefing after the signing of the agreement,
Volgaburmash representative Mikhail Zavertyayev said that the
restoration of Nairit’s position on the Russian synthetic rubber
market was the priority for the holding company. For reasons of
commercial confidentiality Zavertyayev refused to disclose the cost of
the deal to acquire Nairit’s shares. He said that Volgaburmash had
worked out a draft project on the reconstruction of the enterprise,
aimed at resuming the production of bu tadiene at Nairit. Mikhail
Zavertyayev said that since 2003 Volgaburmash had invested 3.5m
dollars in Nairit.

Tigran Sarkisyan said today that the Russian holding company had
demanded that the revival programme for Haykapbank be prolonged for
four months, but, taking into account the commitments before the IMF,
the Armenian side had not given its consent to this and had “decided
to implement the revival programme with another investor, the Armenian
Flash company”.

The Central Bank chairman said that Flash had invested more than 1m
dollars in the bank and had finished the revival process. Tigran
Sarkisyan said that Flash was now conducting talks directly with the
Russian side on Nairit’s fate.

He said that for four months the Russian side would be studying
Nairit’s technical possibilities and would make a corresponding
decision. Tigran Sarkisyan said that the 100 per cent of shares in
Nairit were reflected in Haykapbank’s balance sheet at the nominal
price of 14.2m dollars. The bank has to realize these assets in the
next six months, according to current Armenian legislation.

Interfax
Nov. 3, 2004

Armenia’s trade deficit expands 6.6% in Jan-Sept

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia ended the month of September with a
$463.4 million foreign trade deficit for January-September, up from
$434.7 million for the same period of 2003, the country’s national
statistics service told Interfax.

The country posted foreign trade volume of $1.846 billion for these
nine months, for 3.1% year-on-year increase. Exports increased 1.3% to
$511.1 million and imports increased 4.1% to $974.4 million.

Trade with the European Union came to $548.8 million in January-
September, representing 36.9% of Armenia’s total trade volume. The
country’s trade deficit with the EU was $160 million.

The country’s trade with Commonwealth of Independent States countries
came to $299.7 million in January-September, or 20.2% of overall trade.
The trade deficit with CIS countries was $125.7 million.

Armenia engaged in $1.948 billion worth of foreign trade in 2003, a
30.5% increase from the year prior.

ArmenPress
Nov. 3, 2004

RUSSIAN ARMENIANS INDIFFERENT TO AGREEMENT ON THEIR VOLUNTEER RETURN

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: A senior official of the
government-affiliated department for refugees and migration, said to
Armenpress that no Russia-based Armenian has responded yet to a
bilateral government agreement on volunteer return of Russian Armenians
back to home and Russians from Armenia to Russia.
Irina Davtian, head of a division dealing with migration policy
development, said the agreement was supposed to mainly apply to
Armenians who emigrated in mass to Russia in the recent decade, as
there are virtually no Russian citizens living here on a permanent
basis.
She explained the reluctance of Russian Armenians to come back home
by the fact that the agreement in question applies to those who are
officially registered by the authorities and “it would be naive to
expect them who are close to be granted Russian citizenship to come
back to Armenia.”
Based on this, she said, the department is working now to broaden
the frameworks of the agreement and to extend it to Armenians with no
official status in Russia, who make the majority of Armenian immigrants
in Russia and who are most likely to come back. She also said the
Russian side was informed about their intention.
The agreement exempts re-settlers from paying customs duties and
other taxes when bringing their property.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
Nov. 2, 2004

RUSSIAN-AZERBAIJANI RELATIONS EXAMPLE FOR OTHER COUNTRIES
[November 02, 2004, 18:57:40]

As the member of Committee on security of the State Duma of the Russian
Federation Gennady Gudkov informed in his exclusive interview to
correspondent of AzerTAj, for today, Russia and Azerbaijan have
developed enough warm and good relations. As he said, this positive
example of interstate cooperation, especially in maintenance of the
common safety, highly is estimated both by authority, and the Russian
people. `To this example should follow and other countries’, G. Gudkov
has told.

Gennady Gudkov has especially noted progress in the Russian-Azerbaijan
relations in the field of combat against terrorism. ` We count
absolutely right the position held by Azerbaijan in this question, and
we hope for further understanding of our problems and cooperation in
this area’.

Concerning the situation on the Russian-Azerbaijan border, the Member
of Parliament has stated that all these problems have temporary
character, in due time they will be settled and stabilized.

The Russian Member of Parliament also has expressed his views
concerning settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorny Karabakh
conflict and the role of Russia in this process. In particular, he has
stated that Russia recognizes territorial integrity of all states which
were part of Soviet Union, and is interested in the prompt settlement
of the conflict by peace way.

`It is complicated question in the Trans-Caucasia, and Russia would
like to resolve it, we with deep regret note that such conflict takes
place. Russia, as one of co-chairmen of the Minsk Group of OSCE, makes
all efforts to find compromise in solution of this conflict. As soon as
between the sides the conciliatory suggestions will be found, the
conflict will be settled, it will sharply strengthen safety of all
region and it will enable Russia to carry out more active joint
military policy, military-technical cooperation and to strengthen
political stability of region’, he underlined.

`Certainly, we are for the quick resolution of territorial problems,
for recognition of firmness of borders. Russia has many times stated
that is ready to become the guarantor of invariance of borders. We very
much want that there were conciliatory suggestions that Azerbaijan and
Armenia have found mutual understanding, and Russia is ready to act as
the guarantor. I think, then nobody will have desire to try to change
something in the status-quo, Mr. Gudkov added.