Author: Paul Hambardsumian

India’s ‘Pinaka Deal’ With Armenia to be Shot in Arm for Nation Amid Conflict With Azerbaijan | Explained

Paul Hambardsumian
India – Sept 30 2022

By: News Desk

Edited By: Vidushi Sagar

While Armenia deals with a surge in violence with Azerbaijan in a new flare-up of tensions, India has decided to export missiles, rockets, and ammunition, including indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers, according to the Economic Times. The system was included in India’s export list, which was published in February 2021.

The Ministry of Defense authorised the export of weapons through a government-to-government channel, and the two countries signed agreements earlier this month to deliver weapons and ammunition to Armenia. While the value of the deal has not been disclosed, the report claims that armament worth $250 million will be sold in the coming months.

This revelation comes just days after India urged the “aggressor side" in new fighting along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border to “immediately cease hostilities," without naming Azerbaijan, reports said. On September 13, fighting erupted between the two sides over the lingering Nagorno-Karabakh region dispute.

About the Pinaka

The long-range artillery system developed indigenously and named after Lord Shiva’s bow, are used on the battlefield to attack adversary targets prior to close-quarter battles involving smaller-range artillery, armoured elements, and infantry, a report by the Indian Express says.

According to the report, the Pinaka, which is primarily a multi-barrel rocket system (MBRL), can launch a salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds. One Pinaka system battery consists of six launch vehicles, as well as loader systems, radar, and links to network-based systems and a command post. A single battery can neutralise a one-kilometer-by-one-kilometer area. As a key tactic of long-range artillery battle, launchers must’shoot and scoot’ to avoid becoming targets themselves, especially due to the back blast. As a result, the launcher vehicles must be extremely manoeuvrable.

When Did Its Development Begin?

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) began developing the Pinaka in the late 1980s as an alternative to the multi-barrel rocket launching systems of Russian manufacture, such as the ‘Grad,’ which are still in use, the report by Indian Express explains.

Following successful tests in the late 1990s, the Pinaka Mark-1 was successfully used on the battlefield during the Kargil War in 1999. Several regiments of the system subsequently emerged during the 2000s.

How is This Helpful for Armenia?

Azerbaijan has received backing from its traditional allies and supporters, Turkey and Israel. During the 2020 skirmish between the two combatants, Baku turned the tide in its favor by overwhelmingly deploying Turkish Bayraktar and Israeli kamikaze drones.

While Armenia has often turned to Russia for support, Moscow’s preoccupation with war against Ukraine has garnered limited assistance. In the face of rising hostilities and little military aid, a deal with India for rocket systems and another armament would prove to be a shot in the arm for a beleaguered Armenia, according to a report by the Eurasian Times.

What Else Will the Deal Get Armenia?

As part of the package agreement, Armenia will receive anti-tank missiles and a variety of ammunition from India in addition to the Pinaka. The full scope of these weapons has yet to be revealed. This is not the first time Armenia has received weapons from a South Asian country. In 2020, India defeated Russia and Poland in a $40 million defence agreement with Armenia that will provide it with four indigenous SWATHI counter-battery radars.

What’s the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict?

A six-week war in 2020 claimed the lives of more than 6,500 troops from both sides and ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire. Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Moscow deployed about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.

With Moscow increasingly isolated on the world stage following its February invasion of Ukraine, the United States and the European Union had taken a leading role in mediating the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation process.

Last week, the two countries’ foreign ministers met in New York for talks mediated by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. During EU-led negotiations in Brussels in April and May, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed to “advance discussions" on a future peace treaty.

They last met in Brussels on August 31, for talks mediated by European Council President Charles Michel. The talks also focus on border delimitation and the reopening of transport links. The issue of ensuring a land transport link between Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan and its ally Ankara via Armenian territory has emerged as the primary sticking point.

Azerbaijan insists on Yerevan renouncing its jurisdiction over the land corridor that should pass along Armenia’s border with Iran — a demand the Armenian government rejects as an affront to the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.

With inputs from AFP

https://www.news18.com/news/explainers/india-set-to-export-pinaka-missiles-to-armenia-amid-nations-conflict-with-azerbaijan-how-is-the-deal-significant-6070897.html

Kremlin says Putin making ‘every effort’ to de-escalate Armenia-Azerbaijan hostilities

Paul Hambardsumian
Sept 13 2022

(Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing everything he can to help de-escalate hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"It is difficult to overestimate the role of Russia, and the role of Putin personally" in mediating between the two countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"The president is making every effort to contribute to the de-escalation of tensions on the border. These efforts are continuing," he added.

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have blamed each other for overnight clashes along the border.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire collapsed after less than an hour on Tuesday morning, although the intensity of fighting has reduced, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an address to parliament.

The new flare-up of decades-old hostilities between the south Caucasus countries has fuelled fears that a second fully-fledged war could break out in the post-Soviet world in addition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

(Reporting by Reuters)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/kremlin-says-putin-making-every-095016028.html

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Russia says negotiated ceasefire between Armenia, Azerbaijan | World News – Hindustan Times

Why Greeks, Armenians Rally Against Trump’s Ally Dr. Oz

Paul Hambardsumian
Sept 4 2022

ByTasos Kokkinidis
September 4, 2022

Greek and Armenian organizations in the US have joined forces to prevent Dr. Mehmet Oz, an ally of former President Donald Trump, from winning a Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

The #StopOz campaign was launched by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) recently. The campaign includes a video that has gone viral and has been viewed over one million times in its first forty-eight hours online.

“We’re seeing growing alarm across Pennsylvania—driven in large part by ANCA coalition advocacy with the Hellenic American Leadership Council—over Dr. Oz’s troubling ties to Turkish dictator Recep Erdogan,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

“Dr. Oz’s candidacy has been defined by false pretenses—pretending to be a Pennsylvanian when he actually lives in New Jersey, pretending to dispense medical advice when he is actually peddling snake oil,” said Hellenic American Leadership Council Executive Director Endy Zemenides.

Zemenides said that “that serial dishonesty is what raises the red flags with regards to Oz’s ties to the Erdogan autocracy. The Washington Post first raised these issues in February, and the fact that Oz has failed to address them is alarming. People all over America—who know full well what influence a single senator can have—are rightly asking: ‘Who is Oz?’”

Dr. Oz, is a Turkish–American television personality, author, professor emeritus, and retired cardiothoracic surgeon. If elected, he would be the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate, the first Muslim to serve in the United States Congress as a Republican, and one of the wealthiest members of Congress.

The son of Turkish immigrants, Oz was raised in Wilmington, Delaware and graduated from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Turkey, Oz served in the Turkish Army during the 1980s to maintain his Turkish citizenship.

Oz’s ties to Turkey, including his dual citizenship, were criticized by his Republican primary opponents. Oz called these issues a “distraction” and said that he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected while his campaign called the attacks “pathetic and xenophobic.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Oz’s television appearances influenced Trump’s decision-making, and he became an informal advisor to the Trump administration.

Oz had promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, as a cure for COVID-19 on more than twenty-five Fox News broadcasts in March and April 2020.

Trump claimed to be taking the drug in May 2020. In June 2020, the Food and Drug Administration revoked emergency use authorization of hydroxychloroquine, saying that it was “no longer reasonable to believe” that the drug was effective against COVID-19 or that its benefits outweighed “known and potential risks.”

Former commander of Artsakh Defense Army released from custody

Paul Hambardsumian
ARMINFO
Armenia – Aug 31 2022
Alexandr Avanesov

ArmInfo.Former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army Mikayel Arzumanyan has been released from custody.

His lawyer Yerem Sargsyan told journalists about this on August 31.

According to him, the term of detention of the former commander,  chief adviser to the President of Artsakh, Mikayel Arzumanyan, has  expired, and he has been released from custody. The lawyer added that  the prosecution filed a motion to apply arrest as a measure of  restraint, which will be considered later.

Sargsyan emphasized that Arzumanyan does not accept the accusations  against him.

Yesterday, the law enforcement agencies of Armenia detained  Arzumanyan when he was heading from Artsakh to Armenia. The RA  Investigative Committee accuses the former commander of official  negligence during the defense of the city of Shushi in the fall of  2020. Lieutenant General Arzumanyan was appointed commander of the  Defense Army in October 2020 and was relieved of his post in  September 2021. 

Armenia adopted the Declaration of Independence 32 years ago today

Paul Hambardsumian
Public Radio of Armenia
Aug 23 2022
August 23, 2022, 11:04

 

On August 23, 1990 the Supreme Council of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia adopted Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, ending decades of Soviet rule and beginning a new chapter in history.

The adoption of the Declaration marked the start of the process of establishment of independent statehood positioning the question of the creation of a democratic society based on the rule of law.

The country was renamed the Republic of Armenia and a year later, on September 21, 1991 Armenia became an independent state.

То guarantee the security of the country and the inviolability of its borders, the Republic of Armenia created its own armed forces, internal troops, state bodies and public security under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council.

Under the Declaration, the Republic of Armenia guaranteed the use of Armenian as the state language in all spheres of the Republic’s life, created its own system of education and of scientific and cultural development.

This declaration served as the basis for the development of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.

Yerevan Mayor and ADB representatives discuss the progress of road construction projects

Paul Hambardsumian

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 18:51,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 26, ARMENPRESS. Yerevan Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan and ADB Country Director for Armenia Paolo Spantigati discussed the progress of road construction projects implemented under the Sustainable Urban Development Investment Program. Regional specialists of the Bank also participated in the meeting.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Yerevan City Hall, referring to the joint projects of the development of urban infrastructures, the Mayor emphasized their importance and ensuring their continuity. The parties also talked about new road construction projects, in particular, attracting possible credit funds for the construction of the new road connecting Isakov and Arshakunyats avenues.

The director of the Armenian office of the Asian Development Bank, expressing his satisfaction with the results of the projects, noted that the Yerevan Municipality is one of the reliable partners of the bank, expressing readiness to support the community in implementing large-scale projects, the importance of which go beyond the capital city.

RFE/RL Armenian report – 08/25/2022

Paul Hambardsumian 
                                        Thursday, 


U.S. Names New Karabakh Mediator

        • Astghik Bedevian

Georgia - U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker at a news 
conference in Tbilisi, June 7, 2021.


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a “long-term political 
settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” late on Wednesday when he appointed 
a senior diplomat as the new U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The diplomat, Philip Reeker, served as acting assistant secretary of state for 
European and Eurasian affairs from 2019-2021. He visited Armenia and Azerbaijan 
in that capacity in July 2021.

“The United States is committed to helping Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiate a 
long-term political settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Blinken said 
in a statement.

“Ambassador Reeker will engage bilaterally, with like-minded partners such as 
the European Union, and through his role as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, to 
facilitate direct dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he added.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry denounced Blinken’s statement on Thursday, 
saying that the U.S. risks being left out of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace 
process with its attempts to “revive the Minsk Group.”

“The Karabakh conflict is resolved and Karabakh is an integral part of 
Azerbaijan,” a ministry spokeswoman said, echoing statements made by Azerbaijani 
President Ilham Aliyev.

The U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Lynne Tracy, has repeatedly stated over the past 
year that Washington considers the conflict unresolved because there is still no 
agreement on Karabakh’s status.

“It is U.S. policy that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains to be resolved,” 
she said in May.

In July, Tracy reaffirmed Washington’s stated readiness for renewed cooperation 
with Russia on facilitating a Karabakh settlement.

The Minsk Group has been co-headed by the U.S., Russia as well as France for 
nearly three decades. Moscow says Washington and Paris stopped working with it 
in that format following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried denied that when she visited 
Yerevan in June. She insisted that the Minsk Group remains a “very important 
format” for Washington.

The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed Donfried’s assurances. Russian Foreign 
Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed later in June that “the Minsk Group stopped its 
activities at the initiative of the American and French co-chairs.”



Armenian Military Proposes Shorter Service For Cash

        • Naira Nalbandian

Armenia - Soldiers are lined up at a military base, August 16, 2022.


Drawing strong condemnation from opposition leaders, the Armenian Defense 
Ministry has proposed significantly shortening compulsory military service for 
conscripts willing to pay a hefty fee.

Armenian law requires virtually all men aged between 18 and 27 to serve in the 
armed forces for two years.

A Defense Ministry bill circulated on Wednesday would allow draftees to do only 
a four-and-a-half-month service in exchange for paying the state 24 million 
drams ($60,000).

An explanatory note attached to the bill says that proceeds from this scheme 
would be used for sharply increasing the wages of the Armenian army’s contract 
soldiers. This, it says, would also make volunteer military service more 
attractive to other citizens.

The bill needs to be discussed and approved by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s 
government before it can be submitted to the parliament. Defense Minister Suren 
Papikian is a key political ally of Pashinian and leading member of his Civil 
Contract party.

Armen Khachatrian, a senior Civil Contract parliamentarian, on Thursday voiced 
support for the Defense Ministry proposal while saying that the authorities are 
open to considering other ideas.

“We would have more well-paid contract soldiers,” Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s 
Armenian Service. “Also, people would not have to find loopholes to be exempt 
from [two-year] military service.”

Armenia - Defense Minister Suren Papikian visits an Armenian army post in 
Syunik, March 17, 2022.

By contrast, representatives of Armenia’s main opposition forces rejected the 
proposed arrangement as unfair and dangerous for national security.

“With this draft law, the authorities want to ensure that in the Republic of 
Armenia two-year compulsory military service is performed only by those people 
who cannot afford paying tens of thousands of dollars for exemption,” said 
Gegham Manukian of the opposition Hayastan alliance. This could only deepen 
inequality in the country, he said.

Tigran Abrahamian, another opposition lawmaker, likewise warned of the emergence 
of a new social division. He also said that the authorities can find other 
sources of financing military pay increases.

“It’s not that there is no money in the country that can be used for raising 
contract soldiers’ wages,” said Abrahamian.

Most of the people randomly interviewed by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in the 
streets of Yerevan also spoke out against the Defense Ministry initiative.

“That means turning a citizen’s duty into payment,” said one man. “This is the 
lowest level of morality.”

“A worker’s boy will have to serve while a rich kid will pay up and get 
exempted,” complained another. “Twenty-four million drams is pocket money for 
[the rich.]”

Pashinian pledged to gradually make the Armenian military fully “professional” 
during last year’s parliamentary election campaign. But he gave no time frames 
for such a transition.

Opposition forces blame Pashinian for Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with 
Azerbaijan. They also say that his administration is doing little to rebuild the 
armed forces.



Armenian Police Break Up Russian Anti-War Protest

        • Robert Zargarian

Armenia - An anti-war demonstration outside the Russian Embassy in Yerevan, 
February 24, 2022.


At least 22 people were detained in Yerevan on Wednesday evening as riot police 
broke up a demonstration against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine organized by a 
group of Russian expatriates living in Armenia.

News reports said the police made the arrests shortly after several dozen 
people, most of them Russian nationals, gathered in the city’s Liberty Square on 
the six-month anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine. A police statement 
released afterwards said the protesters were detained because of defying 
unspecified police orders.

All of them were released from police custody later in the evening. They 
included Yury Alexeev, the main organizer of the protest.

“We came [to the square,] unfurled our placards, and all of a sudden police 
officers turned up, saying they have information that our action has an 
offensive character and demanding that we stop the demonstration,” Alexeev told 
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday. “I said that’s not true, that’s nonsense, 
they have no grounds [to impede the gathering.] They then detained us.”

Alexeev, who relocated to Yerevan this spring along with thousands of other 
Russians critical of President Vladimir Putin, described the police actions as 
illegal, arguing that the protest was sanctioned by municipal authorities.

Armenian civic activists also condemned the arrests. “That was completely 
illegal because the gathering was sanctioned and peaceful,” one of them, Artur 
Sakunts, said.

The Armenian police did not thwart similar small-scale protests that were staged 
in Yerevan earlier this year.

Russia has long been Armenia’s main ally, with the two nations maintaining close 
political, economic and military ties. The Armenian government has refrained 
from publicly criticizing the Russian invasion.



Fresh Armenian-Azeri Summit Scheduled For August 31

        • Gayane Saribekian

Belgium - European Council President Charles Michel, Armenian Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev begin a trilateral 
meeting in Brussels, April 6, 2022.


The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet again in Brussels on August 31 
for talks to be hosted by the European Union’s top official, it was announced on 
Thursday.

Azerbaijani media were the first to reveal the date of the next meeting of 
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. 
The Armenian government confirmed the information later in the day.

“The agenda of Nikol Pashinian and Ilham Aliyev includes the issues which they 
have discussed before,” a government spokesman told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. 
He did not elaborate.

Senior Armenian and Azerbaijani officials met in Brussels late last week in 
apparent preparation for the summit.

Aliyev and Pashinian already held trilateral talks with European Council 
President Charles Michel in April and May. Michel spoke with the Armenian and 
Azerbaijani leaders by phone on August 5 following deadly fighting in 
Nagorno-Karabakh. He said afterwards that their next meeting is imminent.

Earlier this month, Russia indicated that it is also trying to organize an 
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit. Incidentally, Pashinian held a phone call with 
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

Moscow has repeatedly denounced the EU’s mediation efforts, saying that they are 
part of the West’s attempts to hijack Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks and use 
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the standoff over Ukraine. A senior EU diplomat 
insisted in June that the 27-nation bloc is not competing with Russia in its 
efforts to facilitate a “comprehensive settlement” of the Karabakh conflict.

It also emerged on Thursday that an Armenian-Azerbaijani commission on 
demarcating the border between the two South Caucasus states will meet in Moscow 
on August 30. The commission held its first session on May 24 two days after the 
most recent Aliyev-Pashinian talks.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenia ex-President Serzh Sargsyan lawyer on witness not appearing in court: Person realizes he was deceived

Paul Hambardsumian
NEWS.am
Armenia – Aug 25 2022
15:13, 25.08.2022

We see intent in Sevan Kocharyan, a key witness in the case of third President Serzh Sargsyan and others, not appearing in the court session. Amram Makinyan, one of Sargsyan's defense attorneys, told reporters this Thursday in the courtyard of the Yerevan court where the aforesaid criminal case is being heard.

"That witness, who was the reason for the launching of this criminal case, argued that he has hearing problems. It is the third court session, being duly notified, he does not appear [in court]. I am convinced that the person realizes that he was deceived and shall come and publicly answer our questions. It will be clear to the public how this criminal case was packaged, for what [purpose], and under what conditions. People have realized that it is possible to delay a little with this evasive behavior," said the lawyer.

He noted that that during the criminal investigation of the case, the aforesaid witness was interviewed five times by the investigator. "This is a direct indicator of the falsity of this criminal case," Makinyan added.

The witnesses in this criminal case are being questioned at this phase. But witness Sevan Kocharyan did not appear at today’s court session, and therefore the court decided to reschedule this hearing.

The next court session was scheduled for September 8.

Court hearings in this criminal case are rescheduled on a regular basis.

Two other defendants in the case—Sergo Karapetyan and Samvel Galstyan—have died as a result of the coronavirus. And the charges against Serzh Sargsyan are based on Sergo Karapetyan's testimony.

According to the indictment of this criminal case, being organized by Sargsyan, pushed by Beglaryan, and assisted by former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Samvel Galstyan and Gevorg Harutyunyan, former Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan had squandered—from January 25 to February 7, 2013—AMD 489,160,310 of subsidy allocated from the government's reserve fund for the 15,391,765 liters of diesel fuel that was used during the implementation of state assistance programs.

Serzh Sargsyan has been charged under the Criminal Code article on large-scale embezzlement or squandering. The third president, however, does not accept the charge against him, and his lawyers say that this process is a political persecution against their client.

Asbarez: European Rights Court Rejects Azerbaijan’s Application on Berdzor

Paul Hambardsumian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News

Berdzor was deemed the lifeline to Artsakh from Armenia


The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday rejection an application by Azerbaijan regarding the city of Berdzor (Lachin) and its surrounding villages.

Azerbaijan had applied to the ECHR on August 18 urging the rights body to urge Armenia to immediately and unconditionally oblige the forces and structures under its control to stop the destruction of property in Berdzor city and surrounding villages, including the burning of houses, and to provide information on the on events,” according to Armenia’s representative on legal issues.

The court rejected Azerbaijan’s application saying there was no need to apply a new interim measure.

Last week, the ECHR warned against endangering the rights of the people of Berdzor and Aghavno communities by displacing them from their homes in response to an application from Armenia, which had appealed to the court for protection of rights of the people of Artsakh.

In last week’s ruling the ECHR also recorded its decision of September 29, 2020, which is still in force, “is applicable to the actions referred to by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, that is, armed attacks on peaceful settlements, threats of displacement of the population” of Berdzor and Aghavno communities.

The court also reaffirmed the rulings it made in September and November of 2020 urging Azerbaijan to comply with international law, especially the Geneva Convention. Then later in December of the same year, the ECHR reiterated its ruling, as it applied to Azerbaijan and its violations of international laws and conventions.

Yerevan Days in Gyumri delayed until September 2

Paul Hambardsumian

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 12:42,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. The Yerevan Days in Gyumri festival has been delayed until September 2-3, organizers said Friday.

“Given the unfortunate events that took place in the Surmalu trade center and the resulting human losses, the Yerevan Days in Gyumri series of cultural events will take place September 2-3 instead of August 26-27,” the Yerevan City Hall said.