Category: 2023

The little clown: How an Armenian performer became a beloved character at the Great Moscow Circus

Christine Harutyunian
Australia – June 8 2023
Telissa RyderSound Telegraph

He may be small in stature, but the ‘little clown’ in the Moscow Circus makes up for it with big laughs.

The popular Charlie Chaplin look-alike has had a colourful upbringing which thrust him to the spotlight in theatre, and eventually the circus stage.

Born in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, Gagik Avetisyan’s passion for the performing arts began at the age of 12 and saw him graduate from two theatre studios in the following years.

He then went on to play various characters with famous Armenian artists in film, where he leaned more towards comedy.

Mr Avetisyan’s flair for satire would soon see him invited to star in the Yerevan Circus and tour the domestic region as far as Uzbekistan.

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After participating in several festivals and circuses in Europe over a near three-decade career, Mr Avetisyan then made his way to Aussie shores in 2021 to begin work with the Great Moscow Circus.

Great Moscow Circus’ vocalist Diana Holt and clown Gagik Avetisyan. Credit: Lachlan Allen/Geraldton Guardian

When asked about his work as the little clown, Mr Avetisyan’s answer was simple.

“I really love this country and the Australian crowds,” he said.

The feeling is mutual, with Tour Marketing Manager Mark Edgley saying the crowds love Mr Avetisyan right back.

“This guys is amazing at what he does, he does about four or five acts during the show and ties it all together seamlessly,” he said.

“He’s one of the best clowns going around and he fits in perfectly here at the Moscow Circus.

“Gagik has perfected his craft and the crowd loves his character and interaction with them during the show.”

You can see the little clown perform at the Great Moscow Circus in Kwinana from June 9 to 25 at Calista Oval before the circus travels interstate.

For more information or to book your tickets, visit greatmoscowcircus.com.au.

Azerbaijan postpones planned talks with Armenia in Washington D.C.

Varazdat Torgomian

 13:53, 8 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 8, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has requested to postpone the planned next round of foreign ministerial talks with Armenia in Washington D.C., the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

“At the request of the Azerbaijani side, the next round of discussions planned to take place next week in Washington D.C. is postponed. The public will be duly informed on the new timeframes of the meeting,” spokesperson Ani Badalyan said in a statement on social media.

The foreign ministerial talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan were planned to take place June 12 in Washington D.C.

Putin should freeze war as Ukraine ‘too strong’, says top Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan

Lilit Nahapetian
June 8 2023
The head of Russian state TV network RT and one of Vladimir Putin’s top propagandists has suggested Moscow should freeze the war in the face of state-of-the-art Western weaponry that Ukraine now holds.

Margarita Simonyan, who has regularly called for all-out war on Ukraine, argued on prime-time television in favour of a negotiated solution and a halt to hostilities while referenda are organised in Russian-occupied territory.

She presented her U-turn as a best-case scenario now that Ukraine has access to Nato-supplied weapons now being used on Russia soil and in the counter offensive.

“I’ve been talking about this for the whole year. It would be so good to stop the bloodshed right now, stay where we are, freeze it and hold referenda,” she said on Vladimir Solovyev’s prime-time talk show on Rossiya 1.

“Do we need territories where people don’t want to live with us? I’m not sure.”

Her suggestions, especially remarks about “disputed territories” in Ukraine, caused a backlash at home while some of Russia’s loudest mouthpieces of the war accused her of crossing Vladimir Putin who “officially” recognised the occupied areas as part of Russia last year.

“Did Simonyan get a new boss now? Who is paying her? A referendum on Russia’s territories that she calls ‘disputed’ would be a Godsend for Western strategists,” Roman Alekhin, a Russian military volunteer and writer, wrote in a column for Tsargrad TV on Wednesday.

Lesser known pro-war bloggers called for her resignation while Igor Girkin, a former Ukrainian separatist commander accused Ms Simonyan, an ethnic Armenian, of first betraying Armenia’s national interests by supporting a deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia over a breakaway region, and now trying to do the same for Russia: “We will figure things out for Russians and Russia without you.”

The surprising remarks by a long-time trusted member of the Russian political establishment do reflect views of some of the Russian establishment but it does not necessarily mean Moscow is going to call it quits here and now.

“Simonyan in her statement tries to say it makes no sense to wage war much longer, let things be as they are and revisit them later,” Tatiana Stanovaya, a long-time Kremlin watcher at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, said.

It can also be a Kremlin-inspired attempt to gauge public opinion while widespread censorship is keeping the Russian leadership itself in the dark about what Russians really think.

“Simonyan’s time-to-talk argument may yet prove to have legs – but it won’t grow those legs until it has proved its worth to the propaganda machinery itself, and ultimately to the Kremlin,” Sam Greene, a Russian politics professor at King’s College London, tweeted.

Regarded as one of Russia’s best-known hawks, Ms Simonyan was calling on the Kremlin to annex eastern Ukraine months before the war began, and just weeks before the invasion she was publicly grilling Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister: “When are we finally going to whack Washington?”

When Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine last February, the media executive said she was “genuinely happy” and “overwhelmed with euphoria”.

As Russian troops got bogged down in fighting last spring, Ms Simonyan said she didn’t see Russia “just giving up and going” and that a Russian nuclear strike was on the cards.

Recently, she has been saying that neither she nor anyone in the Russian establishment are “enjoying” bombing Ukrainian cities but insisted it had to be done to topple the Kyiv government.

When a Russian cruise missile hit the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia last summer, killing a young mother and her daughter, she insisted the Russians were targeting “Nazis”.

Armenpress: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to visit China next week – POLITICO

Vanyan Gary

 10:08, 9 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning to travel to Beijing as soon as next week, POLITICO reported citing two people familiar with the scheduling.

The trip will mark the highest-level visit of a U.S. official to China since that of then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018.

The Biden administration has been working to renew high-level diplomatic and military communication following a near breakdown over the Chinese spy balloon incident in February. Blinken had originally been scheduled to visit China few days later and postponed because of the rancor over the balloon.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden predicted a “thaw” in U.S.-China relations. Within days, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao had flown to the U.S. for meetings with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. But Beijing’s denial of a request by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet with his counterpart Li Shangfu at the Shangri La Dialogue defense summit in Singapore suggested that bilateral ties remained tenuous, according to POLITICO.

Gyumri to host opening ceremony of 8th Summer Pan-Armenian Games

Mary Lazarian

 10:12, 9 June 2023

GYUMRI, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. The opening ceremony of the 8th Summer Pan-Armenian Games will be held in Gyumri.

The second-largest city of Armenia is getting ready to host the anticipated event.

Local authorities are reconstructing the road of the Shirak arena’s western section.

The Shirak Governor’s Office told ARMENPRESS that all necessary infrastructures are being renovated in order to organize the opening ceremony on a proper level.

The renovation of the road of the Shirak arena’s western section will cost 66,4 million drams.

The Governor of Shirak Province is personally supervising the work.

Armenuhi Mkhoyan




AFC Ajax officially contact Krasnodar for Spertsyan’s transfer

Andranik Taslakhchian

 11:00, 9 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. AFC Ajax have officially applied to Krasnodar FC over midfielder Eduard Spertsyan’s transfer, De Telegraaf reports.

According to the report, an Ajax executive has contacted the Armenian midfielder’s agents.

On June 8, a Russian media outlet also that the Dutch club wants to buy Spertyan’s transfer.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1112889.html?fbclid=IwAR2PVT98crzZJJ3B4QkUIfjTlL-LxxlJ1L7ylfdV7o_eYOBn2JX24gK3Gz8

Nagorno Karabakh farmer comes under Azerbaijani gunfire

David Nargizian

 10:25, 9 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani forces have again violated the ceasefire in Nagorno Karabakh and again targeted civilians, the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) authorities said Friday.

At 17:35-20:30, on June 8, the Azerbaijani military opened small arms fire in the eastern and northern directions of the line of contact, the Defense Army of Artsakh said in a statement.  Around 18:20, the Azerbaijani military fired at a farmer operating a tractor while carrying out agricultural work in Karvin.

The farmer was unharmed. 

The incident was reported to the Russian peacekeeping command by the Artsakh authorities.

As of 09:00, June 9 the situation in the line of contact was relatively stable, the Defense Army added.

Deputy PM believes postponed foreign ministerial with Azerbaijan in Washington D.C. to take place soon

Babken Chilingarian

 11:40, 9 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan has said he believes the postponed foreign ministerial talks with Azerbaijan that were to take place in Washington D.C. will be held soon.

“I think that the postponed negotiations will take place in a short period of time,” Khachatryan told reporters.

Asked to specify whether Azerbaijan has responded to the Armenian proposals around a peace treaty, Khachatryan said it’s a working process and views are constantly being exchanged.

“If at some phase we submitted a proposal and we still don’t have Azerbaijan’s stance over it, or vice versa, this is a usual process. There’s no need to specifically observe anything here. What matters is that the sides are noting that the recent discussions and negotiations are bringing the views closer,” Khachatryan said.

The foreign ministerial talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, scheduled for June 12 in Washington D.C., were postponed by Azerbaijan.

Pan-Armenian Games participation bids quadrupled for 2023

Albert Nalbandian

 12:32, 9 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. The Pan-Armenian Games World Committee held a session to discuss the organizational matters of the upcoming 8th Pan-Armenian Games scheduled to take place in August.

The opening ceremony will take place in Gyumri.

Pan-Armenian Games World Committee President Ishkhan Zakaryan said they have received thousands of applications for participation.

“At this moment we have received thousands of bids both from abroad and Armenia. The volunteer groups are also ready, we have 900 volunteers at this moment who will help organize the games,” Zakaryan said.

Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan was also in attendance at the meeting. He welcomed the steering committee members and commended the Pan-Armenian Games as an important component of independent Armenia’s public life.

“In the early years, the number of participants in the Pan-Armenian Games was around 1500, but now this number has quadrupled. The number of competitions doubled, allowing greater numbers of talented athletes to perform,” Khachatryan said, highlighting the fact that this year the tournaments will be held in Shirak, Aragatsotn, Kotayk and Ararat.

“It’s no secret that most of the cultural and sports events are centralized in the capital Yerevan, thus the provincial coverage of the Pan-Armenian Games is an important step to promote sports and healthy lifestyle in provinces,” he added, noting the importance of Pan-Armenian Games in terms of bringing together the Armenian communities from the Diaspora in Armenia.

Photos by Mkhitar Khachatryan




Armenian Speaker of Parliament calls for int’l pressure to prevent further aggression by Azerbaijan

Boris Nahapetian

 11:53, 9 June 2023

YEREVAN, JUNE 9, ARMENPRESS. The delegation led by the Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan met with the Members of the delegation of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Simonyan noted that he has repeatedly witnessed the active work of the British group, which is a good example for the parliamentarians.

Alen Simonyan presented the post-war situation and detailed issues regarding the complex situation in the region. He mentioned that Armenia is following the developments taking place in the UK Parliament and the activities of all those parliamentarians who demonstrated the level of perception of the situation in our region after the 2020 war. “We believe that the targeted statements and pressure of our international partners can prevent further aggression by Azerbaijan, as well as contribute to the elimination of the atmosphere of impunity,” Alen Simonyan said, according to a readout.

The Members of the Armenian parliamentary delegation thoroughly informed their British colleagues about the blockade of Artsakh Armenians, the crisis of the Lachin Corridor and the encroachments of the Azerbaijani military forces against the territorial integrity of Armenia.

The sides stated that Armenia and the United Kingdom have formed an ambitious agenda for bilateral relations based on common values and principles, such as rule of law, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the strengthening of democratic institutions.

They also discussed the necessity to have a common agenda within the framework of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the meeting to support the strengthening of the democratic institutions of the countries.