Author: Parkev Tvankchian

                                        Thursday, 

Government Moves To Raise Minimum Wage In Armenia

        • Artak Khulian

Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 
.

The Armenian government announced on Thursday plans to increase the minimum 
wage in the country by more than 23 percent.

A bill drafted by two members of Armenia’s parliament and discussed by the 
government at a weekly meeting in Yerevan would raise it from 55,000 drams 
($115) to 63,000 drams per month.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet decided to go further and ask the 
National Assembly to set the minimum monthly wage at 68,000 drams ($142).

The higher figure was proposed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. 
Deputy Labor Minister Gemafin Gasparian said it is based on recent research on 
the cost of living in the country which was commissioned by the ministry.

Gasparian added that 35,000 people working in the public sector and 45,000 
others employed by private firms are paid 55,000 drams per month at present. 
According to government data, the average monthly wage in Armenia stood at 
179,000 drams as of April.

Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian said in this regard that the government 
should make sure that private employers are unable to illegally underpay their 
workers through “hourly wage manipulations.” “I think that we need to add to 
this bill regulations that would limit such room for maneuver by defining the 
length of a working day,” he said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian agreed. “Especially against the background of 
the existing level of social security … we must do everything to preclude 
abuses in this sphere,” he told government members.



Russian Airlines Plan Extra Flights To Armenia


RUSSIA -- A Pobeda Boeing 737-800 aircraft is seen at Vnukovo International 
Airport in Moscow, July 14, 2016

Russia’s leading airlines will reportedly help Russian tourists travel to 
Georgia via neighboring Armenia after all passenger flights between Russia and 
Georgia are suspended next month.

According to the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee, they are planning to launch 
additional flights to and from Armenia for that purpose.

President Vladimir Putin last week temporarily banned Russian airlines from 
flying to Georgia following an outbreak of unrest in Tbilisi triggered by the 
visit of a Russian lawmaker. The Russian Transport Ministry imposed at the 
weekend a similar ban on Georgian airlines carrying out flights to Moscow and 
other Russian cities.

The punitive measures, effective from July 8, will hit the Georgian tourism 
industry. More than one million Russian tourists visited Georgia last year.

Senior officials from the Civil Aviation Committee met with Russian airline 
executives in Yerevan to discuss the situation on Wednesday. A statement by the 
Armenian government agency said a representative of Aeroflot reported at the 
meeting that the Russian flagship carrier will increase the frequency of its 
daily flights between Moscow and Yerevan.

Two other carriers, Ural Airlines and S7 Airlines, also announced such plans, 
according to the statement. Ural was reported to be considering transporting 
its passengers from Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport to Tbilisi and Batumi by bus.

Ural also flies to Yerevan from Saint Petersburg. It is planning to launch next 
month regular flights to Gyumri as well, said the Civil Aviation Committee.

A budget airline, Pobeda, has until now been the sole Russian carrier flying to 
Armenia’s second largest city. According to the committee statement, a Pobeda 
representative said at the meeting that the company wants to enable Russian 
tourists to proceed to Georgia from Gyumri by rail and will negotiate with 
Armenia’s Russian-managed railway network for that purpose.

Senior executives of a Yerevan-based airline, Armenia Air Company, also 
attended the meeting. They announced that starting from July 8 the company will 
fly to Tbilisi and Moscow twice a day.

The Armenpress news agency quoted Armenia’s deputy director, Gevorg 
Khachatrian, as saying that the Yerevan-Tbilisi flights will be carried out 
jointly with its sister airline, Georgian Airways. The Georgian carrier’s 
founder, Tamaz Gaiashvili, holds a major stake in Armenia Air Company.



Georgian Minister Allays Armenian Concerns Over Russia Border Crossing

        • Sargis Harutyunyan

Armenia -- Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian (R) and his Georgian 
counterpart Maya Tskitishvili sign a memorandum of understanding in Yerevan, 
Julne 27, 2019.

Georgia’s sole border crossing with Russia heavily used by Armenian exporters 
is not at risk of closure following renewed tensions between Moscow and 
Tbilisi, Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Maya Tskitishvili insisted on Thursday.

Moscow temporarily banned passenger flights between Russia and Georgia last 
week after violent protests in Tbilisi sparked by the visit of a Russian 
lawmaker. Some Russian pro-government politicians and commentators have called 
on the Kremlin to impose harsher sanctions on Georgia. A Russian government 
watchdog issued on Monday what was widely construed as a veiled threat to ban 
imports of Georgian wine.

This raised fears in Armenia that Moscow could also shut down the 
Russian-Georgian border crossing at Upper Lars. Most of Armenia’s trade with 
Russia, which reached nearly $2 billion last year, is carried out through that 
mountainous route.

Tskitishvili, who is also Georgia’s minister for regional development and 
infrastructure, said she does not expect any problems at Upper Lars because 
“there is no tension in economic relations” between her country and Russia.

“I can’t understand why such a question is raised in the first place,” she told 
reporters during a visit to Yerevan. “There are certainly no problems for 
representatives of any country [using Upper Lars,] including Armenian 
businesspeople, because we are doing everything we can to further economic ties 
between Georgia and Armenia.”

Tskitishvili argued that Moscow and Tbilisi, which fought a brief war in 2008, 
restored bilateral commercial ties in 2012 despite having no diplomatic 
relations. “We seek to develop transport corridors,” she went on. “It is 
therefore not desirable to have any tension that could affect economic ties.”

Speaking at a cabinet meeting held earlier in the day, Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian thanked the Russian and Georgian governments for ensuring “the normal 
functioning of Armenia’s export routes.”

Tskitishvili spoke after a two-day session of a Georgian-Armenian 
intergovernmental commission economic cooperation which discussed ways of 
expanding trade and investments between the two neighboring states.

According to official Armenian statistics, Georgian-Armenia trade rose by 14 
percent but still stood at a modest $43.4 million in the first four months of 
this year.



New Judge Barred From Constitutional Court Hearings On Kocharian


Armenia -- Vahe Grigorian, a nominee to the Constitutional Court, speaks in the 
parliament, Yerevan, June 18, 2019.

Armenia’s Constitutional Court on Thursday excluded Vahe Grigorian, its newest 
judge appointed by the parliament last week, from its upcoming hearings on 
appeals lodged by former President Robert Kocharian and retired army General 
Yuri Khachaturov.

In a “working decision” signed by its chairman, Hrayr Tovmasian, the court said 
Grigorian cannot participate in the consideration of the appeals because of his 
“biased attitude” towards the two men prosecuted in connection with the 2008 
post-election violence in Yerevan. It also argued that Grigorian has 
represented relatives of protesters killed in March 2008 in other courts.

Kocharian has challenged the legality of his arrest and coup charges brought 
against him last year. Khachaturov filed a similar appeal in the Constitutional 
Court earlier this year.

The court agreed on June 21 to hold hearings and rule on the two appeals. It 
scheduled the first hearing for August.

The decision came three days after the National Assembly approved Grigorian’s 
appointment to a vacant seat in the country’s highest court. Two days later 
Grigorian effectively declared Tovmasian and six other members of the court 
illegitimate.

Grigorian said that under constitutional amendments which took effect last year 
the Constitutional Court now consists of “judges,” rather than “members,” as 
was the case until April 2018.He said that only he and Arman Dilanian, who was 
elected by the parliament last year, can be considered judges and make 
decisions. What is more, Grigorian declared that because of Dilanian’s absence 
from the country he will take over as acting chairman of the Constitutional 
Court on June 21.

Tovmasian and the six other court members have continued to meet and make 
decisions since then. Grigorian did not immediately react to their latest move.



Press Review


“Zhamanak” reacts to a statement by the former ruling Republican Party of 
Armenia (HHK) strongly condemning the latest arrest of former President Robert 
Kocharian. “The HHK is seemingly lending political support to Kocharian and 
that is not something new,” comments the paper. “However, that support is 
provided only in form [rather than in substance.]” It claims that the HHK 
continues to ignore Kocharian’s moves and statements on the political arena. In 
particular, it says, Serzh Sarkisian’s party has not responded to Kocharian’s 
stated efforts to form a broad-based anti-government alliance.

“Haykakan Zhamanak” scoffs at the HHK’s and Kocharian supporters’ latest, 
socioeconomic line of attack against the current government. “Kocharian and his 
‘witnesses’ claim that hundreds of thousands of people in Armenia took to the 
streets [in 2018] because they were hungry and had only one expectation from 
the revolution: to fill their stomachs,” writes the pro-government paper. “As 
the number of people with the mentality of slaves declines and that of citizens 
having a sense of dignity rises the former rulers will have fewer chances of 
provoking socioeconomic protests against the new authorities.”

Lragir.am accuses Russia of demonstratively meddling in Armenia’s internal 
affairs, pointing to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin’s meetings with 
Kocharian, Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian and Prosecutor-General 
Artur Davtian. The publication claims that Kopyrkin is thus trying to show that 
“without the Russian Foreign Ministry’s consent nothing can happen in Armenia.” 
It also notes that Davtian discussed with Kopyrkin the issue of repatriation of 
illegally accumulated assets taken out of Armenia.

(Lilit Harutiunian)


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