11:31,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Retired army Major-general Grigory Khachaturov is under arrest amid an ongoing criminal investigation, the Prosecutor-General’s Office said in a statement.
The investigation concerns his tenure as commander of a military base from 2006 to 2010.
Khachaturov is charged with money laundering.
Major-general Khachaturov was the Commander of the 3rd Army Corps from 2016 to 2021.
He was detained by authorities on February 21.
12:09,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Due to the blocking by Azerbaijan of the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia, 8 patients from the Republican Medical Center the Republic of Artsakh with serious diseases of the oncology and pathologies requiring emergency surgical interventions have been transported today, on February 21, to specialized medical institutions of the Republic of Armenia with the mediation and escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Ministry of Health of Artsakh said in a press release.
5 patients, who had been transferred to Armenia for medical treatment, returned to Artsakh together with an accompanying persons.
Scheduled surgeries continue to be suspended in the medical centers of the Republic of Artsakh.
5 children remain in the neonatal and intensive care units of the Arevik medical centre.
7 patients remain in the intensive care unit of the Republican Medical Centre, 3 of them in critical condition.
A total of 113 patients have been transported so far from Artsakh to Armenia with the mediation and support of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
13:13,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. On February 22-23, Foreign Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn will pay an official visit to Armenia.
On February 22, the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Luxembourg will take place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, which will be followed by the joint press conference, the foreign ministry announced.
In the framework of the visit, the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg will meet the high ranking officials of the Republic of Armenia.
13:17,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Vice President of the National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan held a meeting with the Members of the European Parliament Sylvie Guillaume and François Alfonsi.
Welcoming the guests, Ruben Rubinyan introduced the situation in the region at the request of the MEPs. Rubinyan spoke about the humanitarian challenges that the 120,000 Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh face as a result of Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the parliament’s press service said in a read-out.
At the meeting, a reference was made to the invasion of the sovereign territory of Armenia by the Azerbaijani armed forces and the problems regarding Armenian prisoners of war.
Ideas were exchanged on the process of normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations.
Ruben Rubinyan highlighted the efforts made by the international community to establish security and stability in the region.
13:31,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan held a meeting with the delegation led by Stefano Tomat, the Civilian Operations Commander of the EU External Action Service.
Welcoming the arrival and launch of the new civilian EU monitoring mission in Armenia, Grigoryan expressed confidence that the mission will continue contributing to establishment of stability and peace in the region, Grigoryan’s office said in a read-out.
Commander Stefano Tomat thanked the Armenian side for the support provided to the EU mission and presented their work in Armenia.
Other issues related to future cooperation were also discussed.
13:52,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The only remaining Armenian village in Turkey – Vakifli – suffered extensive damages in the latest earthquakes that hit Turkey Monday evening.
The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople said no deaths occurred in the village but buildings suffered heavy damages. The Holy Mother of God Armenian church in the village was also damaged. The patriarchate said the church suffered damages to its bell tower and walls.
14:01,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to the Prime Minister of Mongolia Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene on the occasion of the Lunar New Year.
The message reads as follows,
"Your Excellency,
I warmly congratulate you on the Lunar New Year.
May this holiday, traditionally celebrated in Mongolia, which heralds the arrival of spring, bring warmth, love and harmony to all families.
I am confident that mutual respect and understanding between the Armenian and Mongol peoples can be the basis for the expansion and development of mutually beneficial cooperation.
I sincerely hope that with joint efforts we will manage to give a qualitatively new impetus to the Armenian-Mongolian relations for the benefit of our peoples.
I wish you good health and new success, and peace and prosperity to the friendly people of Mongolia."
15:10,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of High Tech Industry Robert Khachatryan, who is on a visit in the United Arab Emirates, met with Mohammed Hamad Al Kuwaiti, the Director of the Cybersecurity Council of the United Arab Emirates.
During the meeting Minister Khachatryan and Mohammed Hamad Al Kuwaiti discussed the possibilities of bilateral cooperation between Armenia and the United Arab Emirates in cybersecurity, the ministry said in a read-out.
An agreement was reached to sign an MoU on cybersecurity to regulate sectoral cooperation.
Khachatryan is leading a delegation to the United Arab Emirates to participate in the International Defense Conference and IDEX 2023 defense exhibition.
18 Armenian companies are represented at IDEX 2023.
15:26,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Moscow is suspending its participation in the last remaining nuclear treaty between Russia and the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced.
During his key address to the Russian Parliament on Tuesday, he noted that Moscow will not exit the New Start Treaty, but is temporarily withdrawing, RT reports.
Explaining the decision, Putin noted that the agreement was initially drawn up under completely different circumstances, when Russia and the US did not perceive each other as adversaries. Now, however, according to the president, not only is the US issuing ultimatums to Russia, but NATO itself has essentially made an application to become part of the treaty as well.
The bloc members are now demanding an inspection of Russia’s strategic facilities, Putin said, noting that Moscow’s requests to inspect Western nuclear facilities under the treaty are systematically denied with only formal explanations for the rejection.
Putin noted that the US has continued to insist on maintaining hegemony, while its NATO partners openly admit that they want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
“Russia cannot ignore this. We cannot allow ourselves to ignore this,” he said.
“Before we return to discussing this agreement, we must understand for ourselves what the intentions of countries like France and the UK are and how we will consider their strategic arsenals as well, which is the cumulative striking potential of NATO,” Putin said.
15:28,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Eurasian Economic Union’s (EEU) mutual trade volume grew by 10,3% and totaled 80,6 billion dollars in 2022, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) said in a statement citing the Eurasian Development Bank’s data.
It added that Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan increased their exports in the EEU by 9,8 billion dollars (1,4 times), of which by 9,5 billion dollars into Russia.
“Armenia’s exports to the EEU grew by 1,6 billion dollars (2,8 times), Belarus’ exports by 5,6 billion dollars (1,3 times), Kazakhstan’s exports by 1,9 billion dollars (1,2 times) and Kyrgyzstan’s exports by 646 million dollars (1,8 times), the EEC said.
The EEC said that the importance of the union’s market grew significantly for Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The share of the union’s countries in the total exports of Armenia grew from 29,3% to 46,8%, and from 28,8% to 65,8% for Kyrgyzstan.”