Category: 2023

 00:03, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will have a trilateral meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the President of the European Council Charles Michel on 14 May in Brussels, the European Council announced Monday.

The European Council said in a press release that Charles Michel ‘has continued to be in close contact with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to advance the EU’s efforts to promote stability in the South Caucasus and normalisation between the two countries’.

Pashinyan, Aliyev and Michel ‘have agreed to convene again on 14 May 2023 in a Brussels trilateral meeting’.

The leaders will also hold a meeting together with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on 1 June.

‘Their discussions will also be flanked by a meeting together with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, in the margins of the upcoming European Political Community summit in Chisinău on 1 June 2023. The leaders have also agreed to continue to meet trilaterally in Brussels as frequently as necessary to address ongoing developments on the ground and standing agenda items of the Brussels meetings. President Michel equally expressed his intention to invite the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, France and Germany to meet a second time in the margins of the next EPC summit in Granada in October 2023,’ the European Council added.

News on the upcoming Armenia-Azerbaijan talks in Brussels was first by the Financial Times earlier on Monday.

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 10:40, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. President of Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan released a statement on May 9 on Victory Day.
Below is the full statement released by Harutyunyan’s office.

“Dear compatriots,

Dear veterans of the Great Patriotic War and Artsakh Liberation War,

Honorable generals, officers, soldiers of the Defense Army,

May 9 is one of the most glorious pages in the history of the Armenian people. The victory of our grandfathers along with other peoples in the Great Patriotic War, the formation of the Artsakh Republic Defense Army, the Liberation of Shushi are the [undisputed] victories that rightly made that day a symbol of national pride.

First of all, I want to bow [before] the [sacred] memory of all our martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the defense of the Motherland at different times, as well as to the merits of living heroes. Their feat and bravery are immortal and will always be a bright example of patriotism and selflessness for future generations.

Today, Artsakh has once again appeared in the focus of an [existential] struggle. The blockade by the authorities of Azerbaijan, which has been going on for five months now, aims to break the will and spirit of struggle of our people through psychological and physical pressure, to force them to leave the land of our ancestors with a history of thousands of years, or [subjugate] us, under security threats. 

The aspirations of the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem are not new for us. We know this well, as well as the strength and power of the unity of the Armenian people, which was demonstrated in the most decisive periods of our history.
Today again, national unity has become the imperative of the day. We have no right to hesitate or step back. There is only one way. Artsakh was, is and should be Armenian, with the free will of its people and the right and determination to manage their own destiny. The efforts of all of us, in Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora, should serve [for] this purpose, we should rediscover and cherish the [meaning] and spirit of the victorious Triple Holiday as a guideline for our lives.
May God protect our homeland and people”.

 11:14, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. Russia is making efforts for the agreements between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to be implemented, the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin said on May 9.

Speaking to reporters during the Victory Day celebrations in Yerevan, the ambassador said that Russia is making active efforts to ensure progress in the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization process. “That’s where we see guarantees that escalations won’t happen and the parties will reach an agreement that would be in the interests of all countries and peoples of the South Caucasus. We are in constant contact with the parties, we are actively advancing the peace agenda, we are rendering mediating services,” the Russian ambassador said.

Ambassador Kopyrkin said that the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh is fulfilling its objectives to contribute to the settlement of the situation, including to the reopening of the Lachin Corridor. He said that Russia spares no effort to intensify the normalization process in all formats, including as part of the task force dealing with the unblocking of regional economic and transport connections, signing of a peace treaty and delimitation of borders.

“Russia has numerously said, and is resolutely repeating, that we stand ready to provide advisory support in this issue. We are also in favor of intensifying dialogue between the societies. The work is taking place constantly, we maintain permanent contact with the parties and we hope that these efforts will lead to results,” the Russian ambassador added.

Ambassador Kopyrkin noted that Russia is “treating very seriously” everything that’s happening in Armenia. “Russia is treating very seriously everything related to its allied obligations towards Armenia and is making all possible efforts for the era of peace, security and development to be established here,” he said.

[see video]

 10:57, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS.  Government officials, military leaders, lawmakers and veterans visited the Victory Park in Yerevan on the occasion of Victory and Peace Day on May 9.

President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, other government officials and military officers, war veterans and others laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honor of the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for peace. 

Troops of the Armenian Armed Forces and the 102^nd Russian Military Base marched jointly during the event.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is visiting Moscow to attend the Victory Day celebrations.

 11:32, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. The chief of Armenia’s top law enforcement agency has said that the criminal probes into the ‘fifth columnists’ who operated within the Armenian military will eventually reveal those responsible for the defeat in the 2020 Second Nagorno Karabakh War.

“The fifth column existed and still exists, and numerous [criminal] cases are being investigated in this regard,’ Chairman of the Investigative Committee Argishti Kyaramyan told reporters on May 9. “Some of the cases have already been concluded, some were made public, but some remain undisclosed due to the interests of the investigation, but the time will come when our society will get the answers to all questions of concern, it will clearly know who those fifth columnists are, because of whom and why we lost, and how the circumstances of this defeat began and ended. I promise you this,” Kyaramyan said.

Asked on the alleged desertions in the military during the war, Kyaramyan confirmed that there are multiple criminal investigations into alleged desertion and other cases but refused to disclose numbers.

 11:52, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Azerbaijan haven’t made progress around the most important issues in the negotiations, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan said on Tuesday.

He said that these most important issues concern the acknowledgment of the 29,800 square kilometers of Armenia’s sovereign territory and creation of an international mechanism for Stepanakert-Baku talks and international guarantees.

“Today, we can’t even preserve elements of the 9 November trilateral statement, because, for example, Azerbaijan must not be present in the Lachin Corridor under this statement, but it is there at this moment. It’s highly important for us to have international guarantees or an institute of guarantors for resolving such issues. So that everyone adheres to all agreements,” Grigoryan said.

Speaking about the latest Armenia-Azerbaijan talks in Washington D.C., Grigoryan did not disclose details but said that some progress has been made, albeit not over the most fundamental issues.

Mentioning the upcoming talks in Brussels, he added that Armenia will try to bring the approaches closer to one another as much as possible and move forward.

Grigoryan also commented on Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s remarks on the Nemesis monument in Yerevan. He said that the Turkish FM’s comments are inappropriate. “This is Armenia’s internal affair, and no one has the right to interfere,” he said. Grigoryan reiterated that Armenia wants to normalize relations with Turkey without preconditions.

 11:47, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. The Victory Day parade has started in Moscow’s Red Square.

The parade is marking 78 years since Nazi Germany surrendered to the Soviet Union in the Second World War.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin, joined by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, are in attendance at the celebration.

 12:31, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, together with Russian President Vladimir Putin and heads of state of several other countries visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow after the Victory Day Parade.

The leaders laid flowers at the memorial.

Pashinyan is in Moscow at the initiation of Putin to attend the Victory Day celebrations.

 13:06, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. The recently held foreign ministerial talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the United States were ‘constructive’, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel has said.

“…last week’s discussions were constructive, and we believe that the delegations from Armenia and Azerbaijan made significant progress in addressing difficult issues. Both countries, as you know, agreed in principle to certain terms and have a better understanding of each other’s points of views. And we believe that with additional goodwill and flexibility and compromise, that an agreement is within reach, and we continue to provide full support and engagement from the United States as the two countries continue to engage in dialogue and continue to secure a durable and sustainable peace,” Patel said.

The State Department spokesperson reiterated Washington’s ‘conviction that peace is within reach and that direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and reaching a lasting peace.’

 12:50, 9 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS. Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Major-general Edward Asryan has said that the security environment of Armenia is now ‘relatively stable.’

‘Security isn’t evaluated on a scale. Security is evaluated by the situation, the stability. I assess it as relatively stable as of this moment,” Major-general Asryan told reporters on May 9.

He said that the situation is under the control of all units of the military.

All steps taken by the defense ministry for ensuring military security are in line with reality, he added.