Author: Meline Chalian

 15:30,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. 1/4th of the total number of Members of Parliament can nominate a candidate for President, therefore both the ruling party and the opposition have the levers to nominate their candidates, according to opposition Hayastan faction MP Aram Vardevanyan.

He said that President Sarkissian’s resignation will cause concrete political processes.

Citing Sarkissian’s resignation address, Vardevanyan warned that the country is facing a very difficult situation and that new risks of challenges exist.

MP Vardevanyan said that if Sarkissian doesn’t retract his resignation within a week and his resignation takes effect, then a 5-day period of nominating candidates begins. “The opposition will hold discussions around this issue,” he said.

Vardevanyan argued that the current Constitution provided for changing the president’s role through legislative amendments, however such amendments were not made. The MP said that the past 4 years showed that Sarkissian was complaining from his limited powers without even fully utilizing these powers.

“The president’s role could’ve gotten very seriously accomplished. After all, the powers of the president are a lot more than the powers of the Ombudsman. You’ve seen how effective the ombudsman is working – praise be to Arman Tatoyan – but you have also seen how inert and passive the presidential institution was,” Vardevanyan said, adding that now Sarkissian’s resignation could also be viewed as his attempt to avoid responsibility.

 13:09,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh plans to increase its healthcare budget as all healthcare services are now free of charge from January 1, 2022.

The Minister of State Artak Beglaryan said that there won’t be any paid medical service in the country in 2022, with the exception of the kind of services which aren’t essential and are done solely at the desire of the patient. “We plan to implement a number of reforms to increase the efficiency of the sector’s management, and I think we will have good news in the end of the year,” Beglaryan said.

He said the education budget is also higher this year, and the government plans salary increases for education staffers on an average of 20 percent.

The higher education will continue to be free in the country. The Minister of State said they plan to implement serious strategic reforms in education.

In September, the Anania Shirakatsy International Academy will be opened in Artsakh, and it will be a branch of the Yerevan Anania Shirakatsy school.

Pensions and state benefits have increased on an average of 20%.

“It is important to note that this year the social protection budget alone is 52 billion 564 million 240 thousand drams, which is significantly higher than in 2021.”

 10:15,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. So far, a total of 2736 people in Armenia received a booster shot against COVID-19, the ministry of health said today.

The total number of COVID-19 vaccinations in the country is 1 million 761 thousand 529, of which the number of fully vaccinated is 784,849.

The following vaccinations are available in Armenia: Coronavac (only the second dose), AstraZeneca, Sputnik-V, Sinopharm and Moderna. Armenia also offers Sputnik Light vaccine which can be used as a booster shot.

Vaccinations are free of charge.

Russia concerned that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs are not able to visit Karabakh. Lukashevich

 21:26,

YEREVAN, 17 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. Russia is concerned that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs are not able to visit Karabakh, ARMENPRESS reports Alexander Lukashevich, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE, said at an online briefing.

"We are concerned that the Co-Chairs have not yet been able to visit the region, to get acquainted with the situation, to outline concrete measures to assist the parties in establishing contacts between citizens, to resolve humanitarian issues," Lukashevich said.

He hoped that the visit will take place in the near future.

Referring to the situation in Nagorno Karabakh, Lukashevich noted that despite some incidents, due to Russia's efforts, it was possible to maintain stability in the region in general. According to him, the stabilization of the situation allowed to address other issues, such as the unblocking of roads, discussions on the "3 + 3" platform, etc.

 18:04,

YEREVAN, 13 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan on January 13 received US Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy ahead of his working visits to the USA.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the National Assembly of Armenia, issues on the agenda of the Armenian-US cooperation were touched upon. The directions of cooperation to be implemented this year were also outlined.

The sides exchanged thoughts on legislative reforms related to several spheres.

 19:12,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. On January 11, at around 17:30, the Azerbaijani armed forces resumed firing at the Armenian positions located in the eastern part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, using artillery and drones. The Armenian side has taken relevant retaliatory measures, MoD Armenia informed ARMENPRESS, adding that by 18:30 the shooting still continued.

“The casualties from the Armenian side are being clarified. At the moment it’s known about three wounded servicemen. The Defense Ministry will provide information on the developments”, reads the statement.

Protesters set fire to Almaty's Branch of National TV Channel of Kazakhstan

 20:46, 5 January, 2022

YEREVAN, JANUARY 5, ARMENPRESS. Protesters have set fire to Almaty's Branch of National TV Channel of Kazakhstan, ARMENPRESS reports "RIA Novosti" agency informed, citing "Mir 24" TV company.

Earlier, protesters stormed the former president's residence in the former capital, Almaty, as well as the Almaty administration building. Protests in Kazakhstan began on January 2 over the sharp rise in liquefied natural gas prices in the southwestern cities of Zhanaozen and Aktau. Two days later, riots broke out in Almaty, where police used light and sound grenades to disperse the crowd, as in other cities.

President Tokayev has declared a two-week state of emergency in Almaty, in the Mangystau and Almaty regions until January 19, a curfew from 23:00 to 07:00, and on January 5 he signed the resignation of the government. The members of the government continue to perform their duties until the new Cabinet is approved.

 12:04, 4 January, 2022

YEREVAN, JANUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. Georgia will again not participate in the 3+3 platform’s second meeting which is planned to be held in Turkey, Georgia’s Ambassador to Ankara George Janjgava told the Daily Sabah newspaper.

“Georgia will definitely not attend the 3+3 meeting,” Janjgava told Daily Sabah.

The first meeting of the 3+3 format – a regional cooperation platform brought forward after the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war which was supposed to include Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Iran – was held in Russia in December 2021.

Georgia repeatedly refused to participate.