Russia's COVID-19 cases pass 3,500,000
13:22,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 24,715 to 3,520,531 in the past 24 hours, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.
According to data from the crisis center, the coronavirus growth rate does not exceed 0.7%.
There are currently 546,356 active coronavirus cases in Russia.
15:42,
STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The healthcare authorities in Artsakh say they’ve discovered a coronavirus cluster on January 15 as a result of testing conducted in the Noragyugh and Hovsepavan communities where 143 in 261 tests came back positive.
“A partial lockdown is imposed in these communities with entry and exit restrictions in place,” the Ministry of Healthcare of Artsakh said.
Hazmat teams were sent to the area for disinfection works. Direct contacts of the confirmed cases were traced and tested with results still pending.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been a total of 2174 confirmed cases in Artsakh with 31 fatalities.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
15:54,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a consultation today discussing the 2022 macro-economic framework, the PM’s Office told Armenpress.
“2020, also from the economic perspective, was a very problematic year not only due to the war, but also the novel coronavirus pandemic. We should clearly record that 2021 is going to be a year of restoration of our economic ambitions. We must specify the actions which will enable to overcome the difficulties and really restore the economic ambitions which we had as a result of the famous events in 2020.
We have many economic challenges, but we also have numerous opportunities. Of course, we firstly should focus on solving the humanitarian issues, but we must record that the trilateral statement signed in Moscow on January 11 and its possible implementation can create new economic opportunities for Armenia. We are inclined to fully use that opportunities, I repeat again – for not only restoring our economic ambitions, but also establishing higher bars”, Pashinyan said in his opening remarks.
Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan presented overall forecasts over the macro-economic framework and economic developments for 2020. He stated that due to the COVID-19 and the consequences of the recent war in Artsakh it would be better to start earlier the debates over the budgetary process.
A number of issues relating to the 2022 state budget draft, the drafting of 2022-2024 medium-run expenditure program, the economic policy, the economic growth forecasts, fiscal policy were discussed during the meeting.
Pashinyan noted that the quality of programs being implemented in 2021 will have an effect on the macro-economic framework of 2022.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
16:12,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin held a consultation today in a video-conference mode with the permanent members of the Security Council, the Kremlin press service reports.
Putin informed the Security Council members about the results of the January 11 talks held with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Moscow over the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
The Russian leader and the Security Council members also discussed relevant issues of the country’s domestic and foreign policy.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
16:18,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Russia is launching domestic procedures to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, reports TASS.
“Given the lack of progress in efforts to remove obstacles preventing the future functioning of the treaty in a new situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry is entitled to announce the start of domestic procedures to pave the way for Russia’s withdrawal from the Treaty on Open Skies”, the statement reads. “Once the procedures are completed, notifications will be sent to the treaty depositories”, the ministry added.
According to the statement, Washington’s move to pull out of the treaty disrupted the balance of interests between the treaty participants and undermined the treaty’s role in ensuring trust and security. Following the US withdrawal, Moscow put forward specific initiatives “in line with the fundamental provisions” of the Treaty on Open Skies in order to keep it in place. “We regret to say that these initiatives failed to win the support of US allies”, the statement said.
17:20,
YEREVAN, 15 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 15 January, USD exchange rate down by 2.92 drams to 522.53 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 4.97 drams to 634.35 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.03 drams to 7.13 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 4.62 drams to 712.78 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price down by 461.78 drams to 30940.9 drams. Silver price down by 3.81 drams to 424.19 drams. Platinum price up by 318.32 drams to 18614.1 drams.
18:07,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Tax revenues of the state budget of Armenia amounted to 1 trillion and 385.2 billion AMD, which is about 60 billion drams more than the index envisaged by the law on the budget, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Edvard Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS.
18:47,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The list of top 10 tax payers is led by Grand Tobacco Company in 2020. The top 10 tax payers paid more taxes in 2020 than in 2019, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Edvard Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS.
The 2nd tax payer is Gazprom Armenia, the 3rd is Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine and the 4th is Geopromining Gold.
‘’The top 10 tax payers paid more taxes in 2020 than in 2019. The difference is not so big, but given the hardships of 2020 we assess it quite satisfactory’’, Edvard Hovhannisyan said.
Friday,
Opposition Alliance Vows More Efforts To Topple Pashinian
• Satenik Kaghzvantsian
ARMENIA - Opposition demonstrators react while listening to a speaker during a
rally to pressure Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign in Yerevan,
December 22, 2020
Opposition leaders promised on Friday more efforts to force Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian to resign as they began touring Armenia’s regions in a bid to drum up
greater support for their campaign.
The two leaders representing a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties
met hundreds of supporters in Gyumri at the start of the tour. They admitted
that protests staged by their Homeland Salvation Front following the
Russian-brokered ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh failed to attract large crowds.
“I thought that that there are one million people in Yerevan and they all will
take to the streets because they were humiliated, but people were so depressed
and aggrieved … I know many people who cry at home but don’t bother to come out.
We have a lot to do about that,” said Vazgen Manukian, a veteran politician who
has been nominated by the opposition alliance to serve as a caretaker prime
minister.
“Many people sitting at home are urging us to act more resolutely,” complained
Ishkhan Saghatelian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), a
key member of the alliance.
“People must take to the streets, organize themselves and oust this government.
There is no other option,” he said, adding that the alliance will also keep
pressing pro-government lawmakers to stop supporting Pashinian.
Armenia - Opposition leaders Vazgen Manukian and Ishkhan Saghatelian meet with
supporters in Gyumri, .
“That Nikol will leave is a fact … He won’t avoid that. The question is when he
will do that,” claimed Saghatelian.
The parties making up the alliance as well as other opposition groups hold
Pashinian responsible for Armenia’s defeat in the recent war in Karabakh and
want him to hand over power to an interim government that would hold snap
parliamentary elections by the end of this year.
The prime minister has rejected the opposition demands backed by President Armen
Sarkissian. He has dismissed the street protests against his rule as an “elite
revolt” not backed by most Armenians.
A group of Pashinian supporters blocked a highway outside Gyumri in a bid to bar
Manukian, Saghatelian and other opposition figures from entering Armenia’s
second largest city. Police intervened to unblock the road.
Manukian, who had served as the country’s prime minister and defense minister in
the early 1990s, labeled the protesters as “tramps” hired by Pashinian’s My Step
bloc for cash.
Russian Security Council Discusses Armenian-Azeri Summit
Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a video conference with members
of Russia's Security Council, .
President Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed with Russia’s top government and
security officials the latest talks between the leaders of Armenia and
Azerbaijan which he hosted earlier this week.
The Kremlin said Putin briefed members of his Security Council on the results of
the January 11 talks held two months after he brokered a ceasefire agreement
that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Pressing issues of the Russian state’s internal and foreign policies were also
discussed,” it added in a short statement.
The statement gave no other details of Putin’s video conference with Russia’s
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, defense, foreign and interior ministers, other
top security officials and the speakers of both houses of the Russian parliament.
Putin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev announced after their trilateral meeting that their governments will set
up a joint “working group” that will deal with practical modalities of restoring
transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Russian leader said that
“will benefit both the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples and the region as a
whole.”
Pashinian and Aliyev failed to reach agreement on the release of more than a
hundred Armenian prisoners of war and civilians remaining in Azerbaijani
captivity. Yerevan says that Baku’s reluctance to free them runs counter to the
truce accord brokered by Putin and calls into question the planned reopening of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border for commerce.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun
Bayramov discussed the issue in a phone call on Friday. Lavrov spoke with
Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian by phone on Wednesday.
Another Provincial Governor Resigns
• Satenik Kaghzvantsian
Armenia -- Tigran Petrosian, the newly appointed governor of Shirak region,
holds a news conference in Gyumri, February 7, 2019
The governor of Armenia’s northwestern Shirak province, Tigran Petrosian,
tendered his resignation on Friday after almost two years in office.
Petrosian gave no reasons for the move. Officials in the provincial
administration said he will not comment before the resignation is accepted by
the Armenian government.
Petrosian, 41, has governed Shirak since February 2019. He is not affiliated
with any political party.
The government replaced three other provincial governors following a
Russian-brokered Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement that stopped the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10. Two of them are senior members of Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party who were told to resign.
The third, non-partisan governor, Hunan Poghosian, appeared to have quit at his
own initiative. Poghosian ran southeastern Syunik province directly affected by
the war.
The Armenian side’s defeat in the war sparked opposition protests and growing
calls for Pashinian’s resignation. The prime minister has refused to step down,
pledging instead to reshuffle his cabinet and offering to hold snap
parliamentary elections. He replaced six government ministers in late November
and early December.
Parliament Panel To Probe Government’s Response To COVID-19
ARMENIA -- A woman wearing a face mask walks is seen against the backdrop of the
main government building in Yerevan, June 2, 2020.
The pro-government majority in the National Assembly has given the green light
to a parliamentary inquiry into the Armenian government’s response to the
coronavirus pandemic demanded by the opposition.
The two parliamentary opposition parties, Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Bright
Armenia (LHK), called for such an inquiry in June as they accused the government
of mishandling the coronavirus crisis.
Senior lawmakers representing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc
initially opposed the move, defending the authorities’ response to the pandemic.
But they reluctantly agreed afterwards to the creation of an ad hoc
parliamentary commission tasked with assessing the effectiveness of government
efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Arkadi Khachatrian, a senior LHK parliamentarian, announced late on Thursday
that parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan has formally approved the commission’s
composition and thus paved the way for the start of its activities.
“The date and time of the first meeting of the investigative commission will be
announced in the coming days,” Khachatrian wrote on Facebook.
Although the commission will be headed by Khachatrian, eight of its twelve
members have been appointed by My Step. Khachatrian expressed hope that its
findings will be “objective and comprehensive” and will answer all “questions
preoccupying the public.”
Armenia has been hit hard by the pandemic, with nearly 164,000 coronavirus cases
officially confirmed in the country of about 3 million so far. The real number
of cases is believed to be much higher.
The Armenian Ministry of Health reported on Friday that 11 more people have died
from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 2,974.
The figure does not include the deaths of 726 other Armenians infected with the
virus. According to the ministry, they were primarily caused by other diseases.
The authorities largely stopped fining people and businesses to enforce their
anti-epidemic rules following the September 27 outbreak of the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh. The daily number of new COVID-19 infections reported by them
grew rapidly as a result. But it has fallen significantly since mid-November.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Baku is challenging the trust-building efforts of international mediators – MFA Armenia
20:00,
YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Creating obstacles for the repatriation of the Armenian prisoners of war, issuing a stamp glorifying the ethnic cleansing of Armenians, as well as the consistent threats being voiced by President Aliyev attest to the fact that Azerbaijan is challenging the trust-building efforts of international mediators, ARMENPRESS reports spokesperson of MFA Armenia Anna Naghdalyan said, answering the question of media outlets.
Question: The representative of the Foreign Ministry of Russia stated that the Russian side has always supported the implementation of the humanitarian contacts between the Armenian and Azerbaijani societies. Are there any prerequisites for such programs?
Answer: We highly commend Russia's efforts aimed at establishing peace and stability in the region. The Armenian side has always supported the humanitarian contacts between the societies of the region, which should be based on mutual respect and tolerance and be aimed at creating mutual trust. Certainly, relevant prerequisites should be established for such programs.
The statements of the leadership of Azerbaijan in recent days demonstrate that Azerbaijan is not yet ready for that. Furthermore, creating obstacles for the repatriation of the Armenian prisoners of war, issuing a stamp glorifying the ethnic cleansing of Armenians, as well as the consistent threats being voiced by President Aliyev attest to the fact that Azerbaijan is challenging the trust-building efforts of international mediators.
The provocative statements made by the President of Azerbaijan in Shushi, as well as the attempts to present the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Church, which had been targeted during the war, as a “war prize and symbol of victory” are particularly deplorable.
These realities prove that the conflict is still far from being resolved, and the peace process is necessary to establish lasting peace in the region.