Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

RUSSIA SNUBS SWEDEN SUMMIT PLANS

The Local

1 Jul 09 17:44 CET

Sweden’s fraught relationship with Moscow has come to the fore on the
first day of the Swedish EU presidency as Russia objects to plans to
hold a major summit in Stockholm.

~UEU’s institutional woes could outshine Sweden’s priorities (2 Jul 09)
~USweden urges EU states to tighten belts (1 Jul 09) ~USweden takes
over EU presidency (1 Jul 09) Russian President Dmitry Medvedev does
not want the EU-Russia summit to take place in the Swedish capital
"and insists that it takes place in Brussels," which Moscow considers
more neutral, a Swedish government official told AFP.

The twice-yearly summits normally alternate between Russia and whatever
country is holding the EU presidency. The last such summit was held
in May in Khabarovsk, in Russia’s far east. No date has been set for
the next one.

Relations between Stockholm and Moscow are strained as Sweden vocally
denounces human rights violations in Russia.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was also harshly critical of
Russia’s military intervention in Georgia last August in the name
of protecting the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia,
even making a parallel with Adolf Hitler.

Neither did Moscow appreciate a Swedish-Polish initiative last year
for an EU "Eastern Partnership" which would allow Europe to boost
its ties with six former Soviet-bloc states: Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The Russians are also waiting for Sweden to approve the North Stream
gas-pipe project which would bring Russia natural gas as far as Germany
via the Baltic Sea. Stockholm is insisting on environmental guarantees.

KAREN BEKARYAN: EXPECTATIONS FROM PACE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH REALITY
Anna Nazaryan

"Radiolur"
30.06.2009 18:02

PASE Resolution 1677 turned the page of the force majéur monitoring of
Armenia following the events of March 1-2 and opened new opportunities
for implementing long-term and normal reforms in the country,
Chairman of the European Integration NGO Karen Bekaryan told a press
conference today.

"On one hand the PACE Resolution made it clear that Armenia still
remains under monitoring. On the other hand, it tried to turn the page,
by welcoming the legislative changes, the fact of the amnesty and the
decision of the President that the Prosecutor General should present
a report to the ad hoc parliamentary commission," Karen Bekaryan said.

Judging from comments of political forces and the media publications,
Karen Bekaryan concludes that the expectations from PACE often have
nothing to do with reality.

"The authorities expect the Council of Europe to be passive and refrain
from active involvement in some internal affairs. The opposition
expects the Council of Europe to solve the problem of democracy in
Armenia instead of its political forces, the public sector and mass
media. Both expectations have nothing to do with reality."

MTS GETS 413-MILLION LOAN TO EXPAND NETWORK

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
29.06.2009 17:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), the largest mobile
phone operator in Russia and the CIS, announces that it has signed
agreements to receive three separate loans for the total amount of EUR
413 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD), the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and the European Investment
Bank (EIB) to be used for the further development of 2G and 3G mobile
networks in the Company’s markets of operation.

The EBRD loan in the amount of EUR 218 million amends a previously
unused commitment, concluded in December 2008, and will provide
funding for the development of the Company’s networks in Russia,
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The loan will have two tranches; the
first tranche of EUR 115 million has a 7-year maturity, while the
second tranche of EUR 103 million has a 3-year maturity.

The NIB loan in the amount of EUR 80 million will be used to finance
the further expansion of the Company’s 2G and 3G mobile networks in
Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Turkmenistan. The loan is in two tranches
of EUR 40 million each with maturities of 7- and 3-years.

The EIB loan in the amount of EUR 115 million will support the rollout
of 3G/UMTS-based mobile broadband services in the Russian Federation
in terms of the purchase and installation of equipment and software
licenses for UMTS-based 3G access and core network. EIB funds will
allow MTS to increase its rollout of 3G networks to additional
cities in Russia in 2009. The loan will have a 7-year maturity,
pressreleasepoint.com reported.

MTS owns 80 percents of VivaCell-MTS shares. Number of subscribers
reached 2.06 million as of April 2009.

RA DEFENSE MINISTRY INQUIRES ABOUT THE FATE OF MISSING SOLDIERS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
29.06.2009 15:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Defense Minister is inquiring about the
fate of missing Armenian soldiers.

"The Ministry is collaborating with various organizations such as
International Committee of the Red Cross , since cooperation with
official is simply impossible," Minister Seyran Ohanyan said. "However,
certain problems may emerge during the investigation."

The Minister, a number of high ranking military officials and members
of Miasin youth movement attended Pantheon Yerablur to commemorate
the missing warriors.

Germany’s role in annihilation of Armenians in Ottoman Empire to be
discussed in Frankfurt on Main
27.06.2009 18:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today in Frankfurt-am-Main an event devoted to
`Deportation and annihilation of Christians in the Ottoman Empire and
the role of Germany’ will be organized by the People’s House of Turkey
union.
The Turkish historian, sociologist and writer, professor Taner Akçam
will make a report on `Ottoman documents on the deportation and
annihilation of Armenians".
Taner Akçam is one of the first Turkish academics who recognized the
Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, since 1978, he lives in
Germany, where he obtained a political refugee status.
German writer Wolfgang Gust, in turn, will make a report on "The Role
of Germany in the extermination of the Armenian people." Gust, a
former editor of the German weekly magazine «Spiegel», is the author
of two books on Armenian history and genocide.
The event will be attended by the head of Frankfurt’s office for
multicultural affairs Helga Nagel.

MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI MET WITH YSU STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
25.06.2009 14:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During his visit to Armenia, Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili visited Yerevan State University (YSU) to meet
with professors and students. Welcoming the high-ranking guest, YSU
President Aram Simonyan expressed hope that Georgian official’s visit
would mark a new step in the development and strengthening of friendly
ties between two states. "Armenia and Georgia have common interests
not only in the sphere of education but also in other fields," YSU
President said. Focusing on Armenians’ role in Georgian history,
Aram Simonyan stressed the importance of granting Armenian language
a special status in Armenian-populated regions of Georgia.

By the decision of YSU Scientific Council, Georgian President was
awarded a gold medal and conferred the title of Honorary Doctor.

During his speech, Mikheil Saakashvili said that his visit to Armenia
was not restricted to official frameworks. "Armenia and Georgia
supplement each other in many aspects," Saakashvili stressed. Georgian
President also introduced the reforms implemented by Georgia in
different spheres, as well as activities towards reducing corruption
risks and situation with democracy.

ISTANBUL TO HOST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENERGY SECURITY IN CAUCASUS AND TURKEY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
25.06.2009 16:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An international conference "Energy security in the
Caucasus and Turkey" will take place in Istanbul on June 26-27, 2009.

The energy experts, diplomats, politicians and scientists will attend
the conference funded by the government of Norway.

There will be 20 participants from Turkey, 15 – Azerbaijan, 15 –
Georgia, 8 – Armenia, 1- Russia and 1 – Kazakhstan. They will discuss
in details the role of Turkey in the energy security in the Caucasus.

Turkey-Azerbaijan relations, peace and stability issues in the Caucasus
will be discussed on June 27 in the framework of the meeting organized
by SETA Foundation in Istanbul, APA reports.

INACTIVE LOANS COMPRISE 7.8% OF ARMENIAN BANKS’ Q1 PORTFOLIO

ARKA
June 23, 2009

YEREVAN, June 23. /ARKA/. Inactive loans comprised 7.8% of the Armenian
banks’ Q1 credit portfolio, Tigran Jrbashyan, Ameriabank’s director
for development, said on Tuesday.

As of March 31, 2009, the local banks’ loan portfolio totaled
668.6bln drams.

Citing the past experience of Japan, Indonesia and Russia, the expert
said banks face major problems when inactive loans comprise 15%-20%
of a country’s total loan portfolio.

"It shows we possess considerable reserves and an ‘airbag’, but we
must always give a right assessment to the situation," Jrbashyan said,
urging the banks to work out new programs to be able to weather a
stronger economic storm.

He said the picture will become more realistic after a summary of Q2
banking activities. ($1-362.18 drams).

NEW TECHNOLOGY TO PROTECT EMAILS CREATED

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
23.06.2009 22:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Specialists in network technology offer a quite
new system for password recovery for electronic mails, which is much
safer than previous ones. An anwser to a secret question usually
applied to recover a forgotten password can be easily guessed in
many cases: as tests show answers can be guessed by one fifth of
experiment participants.

According to researches, the new system considerably minimizes the risk
of unauthorized access to emails. As New Scientist reports, testing
of the new system was very successful: 17 out of 19 participants
managed to recover their forgotten passwords.

NKR PRESIDENT AND RA PROSECUTOR GENERAL DISCUSSED COOPERATION ISSUES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
19.06.2009 17:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On June 19, NKR President Bako Sahakyan received
RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan and Cassation Court Chairman
Arman Mkrtumyan.

During the meeting, parties focused on two Armenian states’ cooperation
in legal sphere. The meeting was also attended by NKR Prosecutor
General Arshavir Garamyan and Supreme Court Chairman Ararat Danielyan,
NKR President’s press service reports.