Author: Maral Chavushian

                                        Monday, September 6, 2021


Belgium, Lithuania Donate Coronavirus Vaccines To Armenia


Armenia - Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines donated to Armenia by Belgium 
are unloaded from a transport plane at Zvartnots airport, Yerevan, September 6, 
2021.


Armenia received early on Monday more than 187,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines 
donated by the government of Belgium.

Photographs released by the Armenian Ministry of Health showed workers at 
Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport unloading containers filled with the 
Oxford/AstraZeneca jab from a cargo plane.

Another European Union member state, Lithuania, donated and delivered 27,500 
doses of the same vaccine to Armenia last Friday.

In early August, France pledged to provide 200,000 vaccine doses to the South 
Caucasus country.

The donations are significant for the country of about 3 million where only 
303,325 vaccine shots were administered as of September 5. Just over 108,000 of 
its residents have been fully vaccinated since the launch of the Armenian 
government’s immunization campaign in April, according to the Ministry of Health.

The campaign has been seriously hampered by widespread vaccine hesitancy. In a 
bid to accelerate it, the government is resorting to administrative measures.


Armenia - A woman receives a coronavirus vaccine at an open-air vaccination site 
in Yerevan, May 7, 2021.

Health Minister Anahit Avanesian on Monday reaffirmed her recent decision to 
require all public and private sector employees refusing vaccination to take 
coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense. She said that entities and 
individuals not complying with the new requirement, effective from October 1, 
will risk fines.

In televised comments to the government’s press service, Avanesian said health 
authorities will have enough vaccines to inoculate a much larger proportion of 
the population. The minister reaffirmed government plans to purchase this fall 
large quantities of vaccines manufactured by U.S. pharmaceutical companies such 
as Pfizer and Novavax.

The authorities have until now received and used only vaccines developed by 
Russia, China as well as Oxford University and the Anglo-Swedish company 
AstraZeneca.

Avanesian said a faster vaccine rollout is essential for countering a slow but 
steady increase in daily coronavirus cases, which began in June and is now 
threatening to overwhelm Armenia’s healthcare system.

She said the upward trend will likely continue in the weeks ahead given the 
start of a new academic year in the Armenian schools and universities. They were 
most recently reopened in December.

The Ministry of Health said on Monday morning that 13 more people have died from 
COVID-19 in the past day, bringing to 6,088 the total number of officially 
registered coronavirus-related deaths in the country.



Opposition Lawmaker Again Denied Parliament Post

        • Astghik Bedevian

Armenia - A session of the Armenian parliament's Committee on Defense and 
Security, September 6, 2021


A key committee of the Armenian parliament on Monday again refused to appoint an 
outspoken opposition lawmaker as its deputy chairman.

Armenian law entitles opposition deputies to heading three of the parliament’s 
12 standing committees. It stipulates that the deputy chairpersons of several 
other parliamentary panels should also represent the opposition minority in the 
National Assembly.

The main opposition Hayastan alliance nominated one of its lawmakers, Artur 
Ghazinian, as deputy head of the parliament committee on defense and security. 
He was also backed by the Pativ Unem bloc, the second parliamentary opposition 
force.

Most members of the committee representing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s 
Civil Contract party blocked Ghazinian’s appointment on August 31. Hayastan 
responded by renominating him for the vacant post.

All seven pro-government deputies sitting on the 11-member committee again voted 
against Ghazinian. During a two-hour debate on his candidacy that preceded the 
vote he was grilled by them about his personal income declarations and 
anti-government statements made over the past year.

The committee chairman, Andranik Kocharian, cited Ghazinian’s “shameful” 
Facebook post that likened Pashinian to “serial killers” over the latter’s 
handling of last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ghazinian stood by his statement and continued to hold Pashinian responsible for 
Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war that left at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers 
dead. He claimed after the vote that Pashinian and his political team do not 
want him to take up the parliament post because they believe he could hamper 
quick passage of controversial government bills.

One of Hayastan’s parliamentary leaders, Artsvik Minasian, told journalists that 
the bloc led by former President Robert Kocharian will nominate Ghazinian for a 
third time.

Civil Contract’s Vahagn Aleksanian made clear, meanwhile, that Ghazinian will 
not be elected as long as he sticks to his “condemnable” views.



Blinken Praises ‘Robust’ Ties With Armenia


U.S. -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks following talks 
on the situation in Afghanistan, at the State Department in Washington, August 
30, 2021


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Washington’s desire to deepen 
U.S.-Armenian relations in a congratulatory message sent to Armenia’s newly 
appointed Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

“The United States has a longstanding commitment to supporting the Armenian 
people's democratic aspirations, and we look forward to cooperating with you to 
forge stronger bilateral ties based on our shared democratic values,” read the 
message released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry at the weekend.

“The United States is a partner in your government's efforts to strengthen the 
rule of law, combat corruption, and bolster democratic institutions, while 
respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms. The U.S. Embassy team in 
Yerevan is ready to assist you and your government maintain robust ties between 
our two countries,” added Blinken.

U.S. President Joe Biden likewise said his administration wants to “deepen and 
expand” ties with Yerevan when he congratulated Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian 
last month on winning the June 20 snap parliamentary elections.

The U.S. State Department earlier urged the Armenian opposition to accept the 
official vote results that gave victory to Pashinian’s Civil Contract party.

The two main Armenian opposition groups continued to reject the results as 
fraudulent.

Both Biden and Blinken reiterated Washington’s calls for “comprehensive” 
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

“We encourage reengagement in substantive negotiations under the auspices of the 
Minsk Group Co-Chairs as soon as possible,” said Blinken.

The group is co-headed by the United States, Russia and France.



Armenia To Take Part In Russian-Belarusian Military Drills


Belarus - Belarusian and Russian troops take part in the Zapad-2017 
Russia-Belarus military exercises at the Borisovsky range, September 20, 2017.


Armenian soldiers flew to Russia over the weekend to participate in large-scale 
Russian-Belarusian military exercises that have prompted concern from NATO.

The weeklong “Zapad-2021” (“West-2021”) exercises are due to start on September 
10 at training grounds in Russia and Belarus. They will involve thousands of 
troops as well as tanks, artillery and military aircraft.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said last month that the cross-border drills 
will be based on a scenario where the two countries are under attack.

Tensions have run high in recent months on Belarus’s borders with NATO members 
Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Western officials say Minsk has been pushing 
illegal migrants into those countries to put pressure on the European Union in 
response to EU sanctions imposed on autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko’s 
regime.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia late last week to be open 
about the upcoming drills and the troop numbers involved.

“What we have seen before is that the numbers of troops participating in the 
exercises significantly exceed the numbers announced,” Stoltenberg told Reuters 
news agency.

The U.S. Ambassador to Belarus, Julie Fisher, said in June that the U.S.-led 
alliance will be paying “very close attention” to Zapad-2021.

Moscow says that the war games will be transparent and defensive in nature.

In a weekend statement, the Armenian Defense Ministry said its troops will join 
the exercises in line with a Russian-Armenian plan of joint military activities 
in 2021.

The statement did not specify how many Armenian soldiers will take part in 
Zapad-2021. It said only that an Armenian army unit is heading to the Russian 
military’s Mulino training ground about 360 kilometers east of Moscow.

Armenia moved to deepen its already close military ties with Russia shortly 
after the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh stopped by a Russian-brokered 
ceasefire last November.

Defense Minister Arshak Karapetian visited Russia for at least three times this 
summer. His Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu reportedly assured him on August 
11 that Moscow will continue to help Armenia reform and modernize its armed 
forces.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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