Thursday,
Armenian Defense Chief Chides NATO Over Turkey’s Role In Karabakh War
• Emil Danielyan
Armenia - Armenian Defense Minister Arshak Karapetian at a meeting with a
visiting NATO envoy, Yerevan, .
NATO member Turkey’s active involvement in last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh
undermined Armenia’s trust in the U.S.-led alliance, Defense Minister Arshak
Karapetian told a visiting NATO envoy on Thursday.
Javier Colomina Piriz, the NATO secretary general’s new special representative
for the South Caucasus and Central Asia, held separate talks with Karapetian and
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian during his first visit to Yerevan.
Official Armenian sources said the talks focused on the future of Armenia’s
relations with NATO as well as regional security and the current situation in
the Karabakh conflict zone in particular.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said Karapetian spoke about “NATO member Turkey’s
role in the 44-day war unleashed against Artsakh.” He said that it “reduced
confidence towards NATO in the task of maintaining peace and stability in the
region,” the ministry added in a statement.
It did not specify whether Karapetian, who has frequently visited Russia since
being appointed defense minister in July, signaled Yerevan’s plans to reconsider
its relationship with the alliance because of that.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian meets with NATO envoy Javier Colomina
Piriz, Yerevan, .
A separate statement released by the Armenian government’s press office, said
Pashinian “attached importance, in the political sense, to cooperation with
NATO.” It was not clear whether he too complained about the Turkish involvement
in the six-week war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November.
Turkey provided decisive military assistance, including sophisticated weapons
and personnel, to Azerbaijan during the hostilities. Armenia maintains that
Ankara also sent Islamist mercenaries from Syria to fight in Karabakh on the
Azerbaijani side. The Turkish and Azerbaijani governments deny that.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Karabakh war, President Emmanuel Macron of
France, another key NATO member state, also accused the Turks of recruiting
“Syrian fighters from jihadist groups” for Azerbaijan.
U.K. -- French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the press on arrival at the
NATO summit at the Grove hotel in Watford, northeast of London, December 4, 2019
"A red line has been crossed, which is unacceptable," Macron said on October 1,
2020. "I urge all NATO partners to face up to the behavior of a NATO member.”
Armenian President Armen President Armen Sarkissian brought up the matter with
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg when they met in Brussels later that
month. At a joint news conference with Stoltenberg, Sarkissian charged that
Turkey is also obstructing international efforts to broker an
Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire.
Belgium -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (R) and Armenian President
Armen Sarkissian hold a news conference after talks in Brussels, October 21,
2020.
Stoltenberg expressed serious concern about the hostilities but stopped short of
criticizing Ankara. He said that NATO is “not part of this conflict.”
According to Pashinian’s press office, Piriz said NATO stands ready to use its
ties with regional states to contribute to peace and stability in the South
Caucasus.
Successive Armenian governments have sought to deepen ties with NATO while
keeping Armenia allied to Russia politically and militarily. Armenian troops
participated in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, and dozens of them remain
deployed in Kosovo as part of a multinational peacekeeping operation also led by
the alliance.
Yerevan Silent On ‘Positive Messages’ To Baku
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia/Iran - A view of the Arax river separating Armenia and Iran.
Armenia’s political leadership on Thursday pointedly declined to comment on what
Azerbaijani officials have described as “positive messages” sent by it to Baku
of late.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov spoke of such signals coming from
Yerevan ahead of Wednesday’s session of a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani task
force working on the restoration of transport links between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. He expressed hope that they will translate into “concrete results”
soon but did not go into details.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s office and the Armenian Foreign Ministry had no
comment on Bayramov’s remarks. Pro-government lawmakers also declined to say
what signals, if any, were sent to Baku.
Earlier this week, Azerbaijan released and repatriated five more Armenian
soldiers taken prisoner during or shortly after last year’s war in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I think that ‘velvet’ messages sent by the Armenian authorities are clearly
pleasing the Turks and the Azerbaijanis,” said Tatul Hakobian, a veteran
political analyst. “They are therefore trying not to use very tough rhetoric
[against Armenia,] even if their actions suggest that they are sticking to their
tough positions.”
“It’s hard to tell what understandings have been reached,” Hakobian told
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “But it is obvious that there is a certain process
which is leading to some understandings.”
The Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group co-headed by deputy prime
ministers of the three states did not announce any agreements in a statement on
its latest meeting in Moscow issued late on Wednesday. It said the three parties
agreed to meet again soon.
RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin (C), Armenian Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian (R) and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev deliver a joint statement
following their talks in Moscow, January 11, 2021.
The trilateral group has been discussing practical modalities of opening the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border for commercial traffic in line with the
Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the Karabakh war last November.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly claimed that the deal
envisages a permanent land “corridor” that will connect the Nakhichevan exclave
to the rest of Azerbaijan via Armenia’s Syunik province also bordering Iran. He
has threatened to forcibly open such a corridor if the Armenian side continues
to oppose its creation.
Armenian leaders have denounced Aliyev’s threats as territorial claims, saying
that the truce accord only calls for transport links between the two South
Caucasus states.
“I repeat that the issue of providing corridors is not discussed,” Deputy Prime
Minister Mher Grigorian told journalists before flying to Moscow on Tuesday.
Aliyev claimed, meanwhile, that Azerbaijan is succeeding in securing the
“Zangezur corridor.”
IRAN - A handout photo shows an explosion during a military exercise by the
Iranian Army in the northwest of Iran, close to the border with Azerbaijan,
October 1, 2021.
His stance and rhetoric have also prompted concern from Iran. Earlier this
month, a senior Iranian parliamentarian accused Aliyev of trying to “cut Iran’s
access to Armenia” with the help of Turkey and Israel.
In an October 11 editorial, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said that the
idea of the “Zangezur corridor” is part of a “hidden plan to change the borders”
of Armenia and Iran.
“This would result in the elimination of Iran's land border with Armenia and
Iran’s exclusion from this important route for international transport in the
northwest,” it wrote, adding that a recent Iranian military exercise was a
warning to “adventurers from inside and outside the region trying to diminish
the Islamic Republic’s geopolitical role.”
Armenian Hospitals Again Overwhelmed With COVID-19 Patients
• Robert Zargarian
• Susan Badalian
Armenia -- A COVID-19 patient at the intensive care unit of Surp Grigor
Lusavorich hospital, Yerevan, May 10, 2020. (A photo by the Armenian Mnistry of
Health)
Armenia reported a record 2,603 coronavirus cases and hundreds of its
unvaccinated citizens awaited hospitalization on Thursday as health authorities
struggled to cope with a new wave of infections in the country of about 3
million.
The Armenian Ministry of Health also said in the morning that 32 more people
have died from COVID-19 in the past day, raising to 5,902 the official death
toll from the disease. The figure does not include the deaths of 1,243 other
citizens which the ministry also links to the coronavirus.
The daily number of new officially confirmed cases has been growing steadily
since June amid a continuing lax enforcement of sanitary rules and a very slow
pace of coronavirus vaccination.
Yerevan’s ambulance service said its medics are working nonstop to respond to
hundreds of phone calls from people infected with COVID-19.
“People call us during the day and they call us at night,” one ambulance doctor
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “People are suffocating in their homes. Only we
can help them.”
ARMENIA -- A doctor wearing a face mask and protective gear gives a call as she
stands next to an ambulance at the Grigor Lusavorich Medical Centre in Yerevan,
June 1, 2020
The Ministry of Health said late last week that Armenian hospitals have run out
of vacant beds for COVID-19 patients, resulting in a waiting list of more than
400 infected people in need of urgent care.
The coronavirus section of the largest of those hospitals, the Surb Grigor
Lusavorich Medical Center, has over 500 regular and 114 intensive-care beds. All
of them were occupied when an RFE/RL correspondent visited the facility on
Tuesday.
“It can be said that we are now at the peak [of the new coronavirus wave,]” said
Petros Manukian, the Yerevan-based hospital’s deputy director.
Zarik Hakobian was one of the patients treated there. The 70-year-old woman was
taken to Surb Grigor Lusavorich two months ago and was still not discharged from
its intensive-care unit.
“I’m very tired and want to feel well, but I can’t,” said Hakobian.
Another patient, Siranuysh Nalbandian, was five months pregnant. She was
connected to oxygen equipment and had to use hand gestures to communicate with
the journalist. Nalbandian, 41, smiled and pointed to a picture of her elder son
Hayk who was killed during last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Only one of the more than 100 patients in intensive care was fully vaccinated
against COVID-19, according to the hospital administration.
Armenia - Passengers on a commuter bus in Yerevan, March 12, 2021.
Vaccine hesitancy remains widespread in Armenia despite the soaring coronavirus
cases and deaths caused by them. Nor do the vast majority of Armenians wear
mandatory masks indoors, including in overcrowded public buses. Authorities
essentially stopped fining them more than a year ago.
Ministry of Health data shows that just over 403,000 people received at least
one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and only about 185,000 of them were fully
vaccinated as of October 17. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
ordered relevant authorities to use their “administrative levers” to speed up
the vaccination process.
The authorities had already obligated all public and private sector employees to
get inoculated or take coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense, a
requirement effective from October 1. Health Minister Anahit Avanesian said on
October 11 that they could also introduce a mandatory coronavirus health pass
for entry to cultural and leisure venues.
Russian Schools ‘Not On Armenian Government Agenda’
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - First-graders have a class at a village school in Gegharkunik
province, September 1, 2021.
Education Minister Vahram Dumanian insisted on Thursday that his government is
not considering asking Russia to open Russian schools for Armenian children in
Armenia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said late last week that Moscow is now
setting up in Tajikistan five Russian-language schools that will have “curricula
created on the basis of our methodology.” He claimed that the Armenian
government “recently showed an interest in having the same program drawn up for
Armenia.”
“There is no such issue on our agenda,” Dumanian told journalists. “At the
moment no discussions are taking placing on opening Russian schools in Armenia
or Armenian schools in Russia.”
He suggested that Lavrov may have only referred to Russian-backed educational
programs in schools in former Soviet republics.
“Any such program deserves attention so that one can understand what it is all
about. Let’s familiarize ourselves and understand,” added the minister.
Dumanian also stressed the importance of improving the teaching of Russian and
other foreign languages in Armenian schools. The Russian language is a mandatory
subject there. Schoolchildren study it for ten years.
Armenian has been the country’s sole official language ever since the break-up
of the Soviet Union. A law enacted in 1991 also made it the principal language
of instruction for Armenian children enrolled in both public and private schools.
Several public schools have Russian-language sections for Russian citizens as
well as those Armenian children who lived in Russia and only recently returned
to Armenia. The latter are allowed to study there only temporarily.
Armenia also has five schools financed and run by the Russian government. Most
of their students are children of Russian military personnel serving in the
South Caucasus state.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Author: Jhanna Virabian
India, Armenia consider Chabahar Port to increase connectivity
The Business Standard
Oct 21 2021
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar discusses the usage of the Chabahar Port in Iran to bridge connectivity barriers between India and Armenia.
Due to the lack of connectivity between India and Armenia, S Jaishankar suggests that Chabahar Port should also be included in the North-South Transport (INSTC).
At a press event, EAM Jaishankar brought to light the hindrance caused by the lack of land and air connectivity and how it has been affecting people-to-people contacts and economic exchanges.
"Both India and Armenia are members of the International North-South Transport Corridor, which has the potential to bridge the connectivity barrier. Minister Mirzoyan and I discussed the interest which Armenia has shown in the utilization of Chabahar port in Iran which is being developed by India. We have also proposed that Chabahar port be included in the INSTC framework," he said.
Iran and India had signed an agreement worth $65 million to develop the Chabahar Port in 2018. The port is said to be an alternative route for trade between India and Afghanistan.
The usage of the Chabahar Port could increase the trading ties between India, Afghanistan, and Iran.
Both Jaishankar and the Armenian Priminister Nikol Pashinyan met on Wednesday and agreed to develop practical cooperation between the two countries.
Later, Jaishankar expressed that the meeting with his Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, had been fruitful. The discussions involved bilateral relations, regional and multilateral issues.
"The minister said both sides agreed that while bilateral relations have expanded in political and cultural fields and there is scope for further strengthening our economic and commercial cooperation, in particular tourism, hospitality, infrastructure, and investment," reports Zee5.
Both the parties also agreed to help boost the business community, the chambers, and the trade bodies on each of their ends to promote engagement.
"An Indian business delegation had visited Armenia last month to participate in the 20th edition of Armenia Expo. This was the first business delegation to Armenia after the COVID pandemic and I am confident that there will be more frequent visits which will give further impetus to bilateral trade and commerce."
The minister also acknowledged the important bridge between India and Armenia today is the presence of a large number of Indian students (approx 3000) who are pursuing medical education in Armenia, says Zee5.
"We greatly appreciate the efforts of the Government of Armenia and the people of Armenia for the welfare of the Indian community, in particular, the students during the pandemic and for facilitating their return under the Vande Bharat Mission."
Gilead Sciences to donate Veklury for Armenia’s COVID-19 response
17:30,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) today announced that the company will donate 3,000 vials of Veklury (remdesivir) to help patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Armenia and 100,000 vials of Veklury to help address the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, Businesswire reports.
“As cases of COVID-19 surge again around the world, and the pandemic continues to affect the lives of so many, we remain focused on ensuring that our medicines can reach patients that need them,” said Johanna Mercier, Chief Commercial Officer, Gilead Sciences. “These donations are the latest example of our ongoing commitment, and we will continue to work together with governments, health authorities and our voluntary licensing partners to ensure access to our medicines as quickly as possible.”
The Veklury donations will complement the supply of generic remdesivir provided through Gilead’s voluntary licensing program. Gilead is working closely with distributor partners and directly with the governments of Armenia and Indonesia to coordinate these donations.
Veklury (remdesivir) is a nucleotide analog invented by Gilead, building on more than a decade of the company’s antiviral research. Veklury is the antiviral standard of care for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. At this time, more than half of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States are treated with Veklury. Veklury is approved or authorized for temporary use in approximately 50 countries worldwide.
Asbarez: New Approaches to Russia-Armenia Relations Needed, Says Envoy
Russia's Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin
The latest dramatic events and the shifting realities require new approaches to Russia-Armenia relations, Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin said Friday when speaking at a forum titled “Armenia and Russia: Imperative of a New Strategy,” the Arka news agency reported.
According to the ambassador, it is worth thinking about how to tackle the growing imbalance between the deep strategic relations between Russia and Armenia in such areas as defense, security, economy, and those prevalent external factors in such important issues as orienting the society’s values.
Kopyrkin pointed out that profound and dynamic changes were taking place in the world, in the South Caucasus region and in the broader areas surrounding this region.
“In fact, behind these sometimes dramatic events there is an obvious tendency toward the formation of a new world order. Now various forces, powers, blocs of powers, alliances of powers are fighting for positions in this new, not yet fully known world order,” he explained.
The ambassador noted that competing interests are sometimes taking on dramatic forms that are not always acceptable from a traditional diplomacy perspective and international relations.
“Under these conditions, relations between traditional allies, relations that have been tested for centuries, become even more important. The majority of the population of Russia and Armenia values these relations,” he stressed.
Kopyrkin said that this is a mutual matter for Russia and Armenia, which will help the countries to more successfully defend their interests in this difficult world.
“We all very vividly remember those dramatic events that took place a year ago [the 44-Day War in Artsakh]. During that difficult period for Armenia and the Armenian people it was Russia that stood by Armenia, providing it with support in general and in practical terms, Russia was the only entity that was on Armenia’s side,” claimed Kopyrkin.
The ambassador observed that various partners from different regions of the world are trying to get something of their own from the new, changing regional order, while a year ago “everyone was mostly silent.”
Armenian-Azerbaijani problems: how Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan see them
Oct 16 2021
- JAMnews, Baku-Yerevan
Armenian, Belarusian FMs discuss regional security during meeting in Minsk
14:45,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met with his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei in Minsk on October 15 on the sidelines of the session of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers.
The Armenian foreign ministry reported that the two ministers discussed the Armenian-Belarusian cooperation agenda both at bilateral, multilateral formats and within the CSTO, EAEU and CIS.
In the context of further developing the relations, both sides highlighted conducting mutual visits at the highest level.
The ministers praised the results of the recent political consultations held between the two foreign ministries in Minsk.
The Armenian and Belarusian FMs emphasized the necessity of actions aimed at expanding the economic ties and trade turnover volumes, and in this context they attached importance to the role of the Armenian-Belarusian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation. They highlighted high and information technologies, agriculture, food industry as areas of interest.
The meeting touched upon also the international and regional affairs.
Touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Armenian FM emphasized the importance of the lasting and comprehensive settlement of the conflict under the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Armenia’s Yeraskh village under day and night shooting by Azerbaijani army
Armenia’s Yereaskh village under day and night shooting by Azerbaijani army
18:19,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The Offic eof the Human Rights Defender of Armenia issued a statement about Yeraskh village of Armenia’s Ararat Province, which is under regular shootings of the Azerbaijani armed forces. ARMENPRESS reports, the statement runsa s follows,
“Yeraskh village of Ararat province is subjected to regular shootings by the Azerbaijani armed forces, both during the day and night.
Today, on , the village has been subjected to shelling again.
The unruliness of the Azerbaijani servicemen has reached such a level that they set fire through intentional shootings to 8000 stacks of grass belonging to a resident of Yeraskh community. The entire winter stockpile, which the citizen had collected to feed his livestock, has been destroyed.
Moreover, the fire spread destroying the roof of the barn belonging to the citizen. The fire was extinguished only by the timely intervention of the firefighters, saving the remaining part of the roof.
These facts were studied and confirmed by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia through the alarming-calls addressed to the Defender, the collected subjective evidence, and verified data from various sources. The fact of the Azerbaijani shootings in the direction of the positions of the Armenian Armed Forces protecting the population of Armenia was also confirmed by The Ministry of Defense of Armenia.
Taking into consideration that the Azerbaijani positions are located in the immediate vicinity of the village, it is evident to the Azerbaijani servicemen know that their actions are harming the residents of the village, destroying their property, violating their rights to life and property, and are disturbing their life and peace.
The process of creating a demilitarized security zone around the borders of Armenia with Azerbaijan and the removal of the Azerbaijani armed servicemen form the vicinity of the villages and from the roads between the communities of Armenia should start immediately.
The proposal of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia has already been included in an international instrument- in Resolution 2391 (2021) of September 27, 2021 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The Human Rights Defender will send relevant reports about this situation to international organizations, to the State bodies of Armenia, and to civil society organizations.
It is evident that the basis of these criminal harassments and the gross violations of human rights is the same: The policy of Armenophobia and enmity, and of ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Azerbaijani authorities. This policy has institutional bases, and until the perpetrators are punished, the violations will not end, and the security of the people will not be guaranteed”.
Armenpress: International Organization of la Francophonie is very sensitive towards Armenia’s political issues – Secretary-General
International Organization of la Francophonie is very sensitive towards Armenia’s political issues – Secretary-General
19:30, 5 October, 2021
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. The International Organisation of la Francophonie (OIF) is very sensitive to Armenia’s political issues, ARMENPRESS reports OIF Secretary General Louise Mushikiwabo announced following the meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, emphasizing that the Organization, comprised of 88 member states, values Armenia as its member and country presiding in the Organization.
“We were following the developments, the pain of Armenians during the war. Our Organization has 88 member states, some of which have very close relations with Armenia, some are even involved in political developments. Like France, which is also the headquarters of our Organization. And there are countries which are less sensible towards this issue. But the Organization, naturally, attaches great importance. Armenia is a member state of our Organization and is currently the presiding country, therefore, we remain very sesnitive and attentive towards this country’’, Louise Mushikiwabo said.
According to the Secretary General, the International Organization of La Francophonie is interested in continuing joint programs with Armenia, in particular, finding initiatives that will be related to the interaction of Armenian youth and young people from other Francophone countries, be it in Africa, Asia or Europe.
“We try to find programs and initiatives that will meet the expectations of the Armenian youth. This, of course, is a supplementary factor to our classic collaboration in the framework of the French language. And we are always happy to be back to this country, to hear more and more French-speaking voices”, the Secretary General said.
On the other hand, Francophonie, according to Louise Mushikiwabo, does not refer only to French. According to the Secretary General, French is a common language for the OIF member states, but, first of all, everyone has their own national language, they have other foreign languages.
"Francophonie is free of these difficulties. French can coexist with other languages. This is the reality of all our member states”, she said.
The Secretary General of the Organization of La Francophonie admitted that she has special dependence on Armenia, especially being in Yerevan, where he was elected Secretary General. She recalled the situation of 2020 linked with the pandemic and the war, during which he and the Prime Minister of Armenia kept in permanent touch by phone. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in his turn, thanked Mrs. Mushikiwabo for her support to Armenia in the fall of 2020, as well as for her solidarity with Armenia and the Armenian people.
Armenia will continue to preside over the OIF for another 1.5 months, until the 18th Summit to take place in Tunisia, where the presidency will be transferred to that country.
Armenia became full OIF member in 2012.
Armenia’s top security official holds discussions with Iranian envoy
Iran Front Page
Oct 5 2021
Armenia’s National Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan has discussed bilateral ties and the latest regional developments with Iran’s Ambassador to Yerevan Abbas Badakhshan Zohuri.
The two sides reviewed security issues and stability in the region.
Grigoryan and Badakhshan Zohuri also exchanged views on the prospect of cooperation to solve new challenges in the region and economic relations between Armenia and Iran, especially the development of Armenian Province of Syunik, and stressed the importance of the Iranian port of Chabahar.
The Iranian ambassador stressed that Tehran is trying to strengthen its relations with Armenia at the highest level.
On Monday, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan sat down for talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian in Tehran.
Amirabdollahian told the Armenian foreign minister that Tehran will not allow terrorist forces and the Zionist regime to harm Iran’s good relations with its neighbors.
Mirzoyan said during the meeting that rapid international and regional developments have led senior officials of the two countries to meet frequently.
Meanwhile Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Monday that the Islamic Republic is Armenia’s partner, and that Yerevan has never been and will never be involved in any plot against Iran.
RFE/RL Armenian Report – 09/30/2021
Thursday,
Armenian Government Plans Major Rise In Spending
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan,
The Armenian government approved on Thursday the draft state budget for next
year calling for significant increases in its expenditures on infrastructure
projects, social programs, defense and national security.
Overall public spending is to rise by over 15 percent to almost 2.2 trillion
drams ($4.5 billion) in 2022.
The government at the same time pledged to cut the budget deficit through an
even sharper rise in its tax revenues.
“The 2022 budget is based on our three main priorities: reforming the national
security system, developing infrastructures and modernizing education and
science,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said during a cabinet meeting in
Yerevan. “We will be paying a great deal of attention to national security,
without which it is impossible to achieve long-term development goals.”
Government spending on defense is projected to grow by about 11 percent to 345.4
billion drams ($707 million), reflecting lingering security challenges facing
Armenia after last year’s war with Azerbaijan.
The government wants to allocate another 42.6 billion drams to the National
Security Service (NSS), a year-on-year increase of about 23 percent. The NSS
oversees Armenia’s border guards deployed along some sections of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border after the six-week war.
The draft budget presented by Finance Minister Tigran Khachatrian also calls for
a 31.6 percent surge in spending on road construction and other infrastructures
which would total nearly 279 billion drams.
Social security would remain the single largest recipient of public funds, with
almost 580 billion drams allocated for that purpose.
The spending increases are supposed to be more than offset by a nearly 25
percent jump in state revenue projected at 1.95 trillion drams. The budget
deficit would thus fall to 242 billion drams from 334 billion drams recorded
last year.
The 2021 deficit, equivalent to 5.5 percent of GDP, was much bigger than
expected due to a severe economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic
and compounded by the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian economy shrunk by
7.6 percent, forcing the government to resort to additional external borrowing
to make up for a major shortfall in its tax revenues.
The economy returned to growth this year. Pashinian said in July that it is on
course to expand by at least 6 percent in 2021.
The recession also pushed up Armenia’s public debt to 63.5 percent of GDP.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the debt continued to increase this year,
reaching $8.95 billion in August.
Khachatrian expressed confidence that the ongoing economic recovery will allow
the government cut the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60.2 percent by the end of 2022.
Former Armenian Defense Minister Arrested
• Artak Khulian
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Fromer Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan.
The National Security Service (NSS) confirmed on Thursday that it has arrested
former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan in an ongoing criminal investigation into
supplies of allegedly faulty ammunition to Armenia’s armed forces.
In a statement, the NSS said that Tonoyan and Davit Galstian, an arms dealer
also arrested late on Wednesday, are accused of fraud and embezzlement that cost
the state almost 2.3 billion drams ($4.7 million).
Later in the day a court in Yerevan allowed the NSS to hold Tonoyan in detention
pending investigation. A lawyer for the former minister said he denies the
accusations and will therefore appeal against the decision.
“The criminal case contains plenty of information that disproves the
accusations,” Sergei Hovannisian told journalists.
Galstian also protested his innocence during a separate court hearing on his
pre-trial arrest.
Galstian owns several firms that have for years sold weapons and ammunition to
the Armenian military. He was already arrested in February on charges of
supplying the military with unusable artillery shells worth $1 million.
Armenia’s Court of Appeals released the businessman reputedly close to Tonoyan
from custody four months later.
It was not immediately clear whether or not Tonoyan, who served as defense
minister from 2018-2020, will plead guilty to the accusations.
The NSS statement said that criminal proceedings have also been launched against
other serving and retired military officials as part of “large-scale
operational-investigative measures” taken by its investigators. It did not name
those officials.
A deputy chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Stepan
Galstian, was summoned to the NSS for questioning late on Wednesday. According
to the Hraparak newspaper, investigators searched his and Tonoyan’s apartments.
In what appears to be a related development, the NSS also arrested late last
week the commander of Armenia’s Air Force. It claimed that the general abused
his powers to arrange for personal gain a $4.7 million contract for the supply
of outdated rockets to the armed forces.
According to the security service, the Defense Ministry had refused to buy the
same batch of rockets from a private intermediary in 2011.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan
(second from right) inspect the new canteen of a military base in Armavir, July
19, 2019.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian appointed Tonoyan as defense minister immediately
after coming to power in the May-April 2018 “velvet revolution” that toppled
Armenia’s longtime leader, Serzh Sarkisian.
Tonoyan had served as a deputy defense minister and minister of emergencies
during Sarkisian’s rule. In April 2018, one of Pashinian’s close associates,
Ararat Mirzoyan, described him as a “real professional” and “person of
integrity” who will quickly modernize the Armenian army.
Tonoyan was sacked in November 2020 less than two weeks after a Russian-brokered
agreement stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Nagorno-Karabakh. Some
senior pro-Pashinian parliamentarians blamed him for Armenia’s defeat in the
six-week war. The prime minister faced angry opposition demonstrations and
fought for his political survival at the time.
Later in November, the then chief of the army staff, Colonel-General Onik
Gasparian, said four days after the outbreak of the war he warned Armenia’s
political leadership to urgently reach a truce agreement with Azerbaijan to halt
the hostilities. Pashinian subsequently denied Gasparian’s claim.
However, Tonoyan not only confirmed the warning issued by the army top brass but
also said that it was “agreed with me.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.