Author: Yeghisabet Vorskanian

President Serzh Sargsyan sent today a congratulatory message to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the occasion of his birth anniversary.

“Distinguished Mr. President,

Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of your birth anniversary.

I sincerely wish you great health and new success in your policies aimed at the increase of the well-being of the citizens of Russia, prosperity of the country and strengthening of its role on the international arena.

There is no doubt that joint and consistent deepening and enrichment of the potential of our countries’ allied cooperation, based on the centuries-long brotherly and friendly relations of our countries, allows to register significant results in all areas of the Armenian-Russian cooperation. Thanks to your personal input, important interstate strategic agreements, including economic, military-technical, investment, humanitarian and other, are being called to life.

I am confident that the intensive and efficient political dialogue and our regular meetings will continue to play an important role in the active development of the entire complex of the Armenian-Russian cooperation on the bilateral level as well as in the framework of international and regional unions.

Joint steps aimed at the productive functioning of the Eurasian Economic Union, adaptation of the Commonwealth of Independent States and further development of the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s structure create qualitatively new conditions for the future development of the allied relations for the benefit of our peoples, stability and security in the region.

I am glad for the upcoming opportunity to welcome you at the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Armenia.

I cordially wish you, Distinguished Mr. President, all the best and success in all your undertakings,” reads the congratulatory message of the President of Armenia.

Fifth hearing of the Dink case is being held today. Before the hearing, Friends of Hrant were in front of the courthouse as always, demanding justice, reports.

The Dink murder case began to be retried and the fifth hearing of the retrials started today in 14^th High Penal Court. The hearing will continue throughout this week.

Before the hearing, Friends of Hrant were in front of the courthouse as always, demanding justice.

The press statement was read by Bircan Yorulmaz and the powers trying to abuse the case for their political interests were criticized.

Highlights of the statement are as the following:

“The ones who want to abuse Dink murder for their political games don’t concern us. We want everyone, regardless of their political circle, to stand trial: the instigators, the perpetrators, the ones who turned a blind eye to the plans of murder and the ones ones who praised the murderers. This is the only aim of our years-long struggle.

“The ones who say things like ‘Hrant Dink was murdered by racist-nationalist fascists or by Gulenists’ are trying to abuse this murder and they don’t concern us.

“Leaking of the footage, which seems to be held by the state for almost ten years, is not a step for clarifying the murder, but rather a product of the same dirty political games.

“Once again, we say with determination and insistence: until everyone who have a hand in this murder, from the perpetrators to the planners, from the public officials who actively worked with the murderers to the police chiefs, bureaucrats and politicians who didn’t do anything though they had the power to prevent this murder stand trial, this case won’t be closed.”

All major political forces have halted the election campaign after the death of the son of a candidate running for Gyumri Mayor’s Office.

Arshak Grigoryna, the son of Vardevan Grigorian from Prosperous Armenia Party, was admitted to Gyumri Medical Center with a gunshot wound in the head at about 13:20 today.

The investigation has revealed that the young man was wounded as a result of gunshot in the basement of their house.

Criminal case has been launched under Articles 110.1 (Causing somebody to commit suicide or make an attempt at a suicide by indirect willfulness or by negligence, by means of threat, cruel treatment or regular humiliation of one’s dignity) and 235.1 (Illegal procurement, transportation, keeping or carrying of weapons, explosives or explosive devices, except smoothbore long-barrel hunting guns, ammunition) of the Criminal Code.

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand believes Jose Mourinho should consider starting Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford ahead of Juan Mata and Martial.

“The thing Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan give you that the other two don’t is the ability to take a man on,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.

“Rashford and Mkhitaryan were the bright spark in the second half that changed the game for Man Utd,” Ferdinand said, commenting on United’s win over Hull City on Saturday.

“Anthony Martial too often wants the ball to feet. Marcus Rashford will get the ball and ask defenders questions.”

United are in second place in the Premier League table after successive victories over Bournemouth, Southampton and Hull City.

A man detained for seizing a bank in downtown Moscow and taking several people hostage on Wednesday evening has told investigators he had no plans of killing anyone, reports.

“During the interrogation, the detained man said he did not plan to kill anyone, but wanted to draw attention to the problem of [bankruptcy] by his actions,” senior aide of the head of the Main Investigative Department in Moscow Yulia Ivanova told TASS. On Thursday, the investigators plan “to bring charges against him and impose a pre-trial restraint.”

The 55-year-old man, later identified as Aram Petrosyan, a businessman from  Moscow region, seized the Citibank office located at 15 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, 800 meters from the Kremlin, at around 6.30 p.m. Moscow time (1530GMT) on Wednesday. He said he had been manufacturing first aid kits until recently before going bankrupt.

He had a box wrapped in yellow tape that he claimed was an explosive device and threatened to blow up the office. Police later said it turned out to be a fake bomb, makeshift box was filled with salt. The hostage taker demanded that the current law on personal bankruptcy be canceled and that “a personal bankruptcy institution” be established to address the problems of bankrupt businessmen. When the man entered the bank, there were six people inside: three clients, two cashiers and a security guard. By 10.00 p.m. Moscow time the perpetrator freed all hostages and surrendered to the police.

TASS Deputy Editor-in-Chief Gleb Bryansky was one of the hostages in the seized bank office. “The hostage taker did not look like a cruel criminal, but rather like a desperate person. He was very nervous, was constantly apologizing and smoking a lot,” Bryansky said.

US Congressman Jim Costa visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial today to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. Rep. Costa laid flowers at the eternal fire and paid tribute to the memory of the victims with a minute of silence.

Jim Costa visited the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute and watched the posters of the film “Auction of souls” featuring genocide survivor Aurora Mardiganian, her photos and personal items.

Jim Costa left a note in the Museum’s Guest Book.

Armenia is better prepared to monitor, track, investigate, and stop dangerous viruses, bioweapons, and disease thanks to a series of labs renovated and modernized by the United States. The latest, a new centralized national joint facility in Yerevan, was opened on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, by the Minister of Health Dr. Armen Muradyan, the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Sergo Karapetyan, and U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, Jr.

The Ministry of Health’s National Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ministry of Agriculture’s State Service for Food Safety Central Facilities are housed in the two buildings that were built and renovated thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The construction comes as part of the Agency’s Cooperative Biological Engagement Program, designed to track and secure especially dangerous pathogens in Armenia and around the globe. The efforts will strengthen Armenia’s ability to detect and monitor disease patterns in order to reduce the risk of outbreaks of dangerous diseases, whether human or animal.

“The opening of this new national central facility and our cooperation with the Ministries of Health and Agriculture benefit not just Armenia, keeping this nation safe, but the larger world by helping fight the spread of disease,” Ambassador Mills said. “We know that in today’s globalized and interconnected world, diseases have no boundaries. That is why we must all work together to prevent the proliferation of bioweapons.”

Along with the two updated national facilities in Yerevan, the U.S. has also recently completed the renovation of the Tavush and Shirak regional laboratories and will complete the construction of three more facilities in Lori, Gegharqunik and Syunik in 2017. All of these regional laboratories will be linked to the national central facility in Yerevan.

In addition to building new labs, renovating existing labs and providing upgrades, the U.S. is providing training and equipment to support the Armenian staff working in these labs.

“These new central facilities – which contain the latest equipment and meet the highest standards – along with the on-going training provided to the staff, will dramatically increase the capability of Armenia to detect, diagnose, and report disease outbreaks throughout the country,” said Ambassador Mills, who was joined at the new facility opening by Dr. Elizabeth George from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan attended today the conference on “European Business Perspectives, obstacles and opportunities in Armenia” organized by the European Business Association.

Addressing the conference, the Prime Minister said “the government implements a continuous policy of making Armenia a more attractive country in terms of business environment. We have announced and are consistently implementing an “open doors” policy, applying almost no restriction on investment opportunities.”

He said the steps toward improvement of the business climate have been highly assessed by renowned international organizations. “We’re implementing a policy targeted at ensuring equal conditions for all. Foreign companies should feel comfortable and safe in Armenia,” the Prime Minister said.

According to him, Armenia can serve a bridge between the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU member states. “Another opportunity is the Framework Agreement on Trade and Investment signed between the Republic of Armenia and the United States, which creates favorable conditions for investments and promotion of commodity turnover between the two countries,” the PM added.

“We attach great importance to investment programs with a view of creating new jobs and attracting new investments by offering a broad framework of privileges to entrepreneurs,” Hovik Abrahamyan stated.

Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski said “EU wants to work more closely with businesses and propose concrete steps to improve the business and investment climate.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Azerbaijan on July 11-12, Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

Zakharova said that among issues on the agenda will be bilateral cooperation and Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.

Vatican Radio – Pope Francis has sent the following telegram to the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan:

Flying over Turkey on my pastoral visit to Armenia, I extend best wishes to Your Excellency and your fellow citizens, with prayers that the Most High will bestow upon all in the nation His choicest blessings.