12:19,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador-at-large Edmon Marukyan has released a statement on Azerbaijan’s latest deadly border shooting targeting an Armenian military position in Syunik province.

The Azeri gunfire killed 2 Armenian soldiers and wounded others.

“According to the statement of the State border guard service of Azerbaijan, tonight, they carried out the "Revenge" operation by attacking the border guard position located in the sovereign territory of Armenia, as a result of which two Armenian servicemen were killed and several others were injured.

“First, Azerbaijan declares that there was fire from the Armenian side, as if there was a wounded person, then the Armenian side declares that it will investigate the incident, and the Azerbaijani side attacks and kills and injures people without waiting for any investigation, thus showing that they were prepared for an attack and were just looking for a cause.

Thus, it is obvious that Azerbaijan does not give up its "traditional" criminal, aggressive behavior and first spreads unchecked, one sided, fake news as if there was a shooting from the Armenian side, and then carries out a ready-made operation in the sovereign territory of Armenia, killing and distorting new lives. This chain of criminal acts carried out by Azerbaijan must be stopped. The international community must condemn this chain of vile unprovoked actions carried out by Azerbaijan and call Azerbaijan to withdraw its occupying forces from more than 215 square kilometers of sovereign territory of Armenia, which is an aggression by virtue and provocation against Armenia,” Marukyan said on X.

 15:53,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The fifth meeting of the EU-Armenia Partnership Council is underway in Brussels.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Josep Borrell, the Vice President of the European Commission, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy are participating in the meeting.

The agenda of the meeting includes a wide range of issues: the implementation process of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, including the reforms implemented in Armenia and their results. The prospects of deepening the Armenia-EU partnership in various fields will also be touched upon, taking into account the current priorities and existing challenges. The security situation in the South Caucasus and regional issues will also be discussed.

 16:58,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Today, the European Commission is allocating an additional €5.5 million in humanitarian aid to support the Armenians displaced from the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the EU Delegation to Armenia said in a press release.  

“Many of the people who fled to Armenia during the last year's mass exodus took little to no belongings with them, leaving them dependent on emergency aid.

“€1.5 million of this funding is assigned for disaster preparedness to enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities to potential crises. The remaining €4 million of humanitarian funding is mainly focusing on providing the displaced Karabakh Armenians with regular cash transfers and vouchers to help them cover their basic needs.

“Through its humanitarian partners, the EU aims to support people in need with access to food, shelter healthcare, mental health services, and protection.

“Underlining EU's humanitarian support to Karabakh Armenians, Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “This is the first winter for thousands of Karabakh Armenians who fled to Armenia last Autumn. In these challenging times, it is our humanitarian duty to provide protection and assistance to the people most in need. With this new €5.5 million funding, we will aim to further strengthen the existing EU humanitarian response to the displaced people in Armenia, by providing them with access to basic services.”

“This funding comes in addition to the €12.2 million already announced by the European Commission in response to the mass exodus of Karabakh Armenians in September 2023,” reads the press release.

 17:06,

YEREVAN, 13 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 13 February, USD exchange rate down by 0.30 drams to 404.23 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.48 drams to 435.48 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.01 drams to 4.43 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.44 drams to 512.04 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 127.39 drams to 26190.13 drams. Silver price up by 3.16 drams to 297.81 drams.

 17:32,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. The Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia has been included in the European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (ENPE) as an observer.

Armenia is now the only country in the region to have an observer status in ENPE.

ENPE seeks to: • support the operative work of environmental prosecutors; • promote the exchange of information and experience of the enforcement and prosecution of environmental crime between members; • foster knowledge of environmental law among prosecutors and promote the development of environmental criminal law as an integral part of criminal law enforcement generally; • share experience of investigations, prosecutions and sanctions in the field of environmental criminal law; • contribute to better understanding, implementation and enforcement of environmental criminal law; • encourage and support co-operation between Members and facilitate capacity building in relation to the prevention and prosecution of environmental crime; • facilitate collection of data about environmental crime across Europe and enforcement action taken in relation to environmental crime; • identify and develop good, and whenever possible, best practice, for successful prosecutions and produce guidance, tools, common standards and approaches to the prosecution of environmental offences; • share training programmes in relation to environmental criminal law.

The network has over 60 members and observers (UK, France, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and others).

 17:58,

 19:12,

 19:49,

 19:54,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS.  In the process of delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan no new border has to be created, but the borders confirmed by the Alma-Ata declaration and later reaffirmed by the parties should be reproduced on the ground, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at the end of  the fifth meeting of the EU-Armenia Partnership Council during the  joint press conference with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.

"I reiterated Armenia’s commitment to agreements reflected in statements adopted in quadrilateral meetings in Prague in October 2022 and in Granada last autumn as well as the agreements, announced by the President of the European Council Charles Michel following the trilateral meetings with leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels on May 14 and July 15, 2023.

We remain convinced that Armenia and Azerbaijan should reaffirm that they recognize each other's territorial integrity based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration and the most recent maps elaborated by competent and authorized bodies of the Soviet Union should become the basis for the delimitation of the borders between the two countries. This means that in the process of delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan no new border has to be created, but the borders confirmed by the Alma-Ata declaration and later reaffirmed by the parties should be reproduced on the ground," said the Foreign Minister.

 20:01,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by Sir John Whittingdale, a member of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister welcomed the UK parliamentarians' visit to Armenia and referred to the Azerbaijani-initiated escalation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the Prime Minister's Office said in a readout.

"Mr. Whittingdale, I welcome you and your delegation to our country. Unfortunately, your visit coincided with a new escalation on the border with Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan initiated a new provocation, as a result of which four Armenian soldiers were killed. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated action, we continuously see a series of Azerbaijani provocations. According to our assessment, this is Azerbaijan's policy aimed at disrupting the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan by all possible means. This is also evidenced by the aggressive rhetoric of the official representatives of Azerbaijan, spiced with explicit territorial claims against Armenia.

Obviously, the strategy of the Azerbaijani government is aimed at deepening enmity in our region, which is a very disturbing fact.

But despite all these facts, our government is devoted to the peace process, because our belief is that the peace process has no alternative. Of course, we should do everything to achieve concrete results in the peace process, and we are doing it. But unfortunately, it is not possible to do this without the political will of the other side. And today's incident that claimed the lives of four soldiers testifies not only to the lack of political will for peace, but also to Azerbaijan's intentions to deepen the enmity and military escalation.

This is evidenced by the events that took place yesterday and today. The Azerbaijani press published information yesterday evening, according to which, in the area of today's incident, an Armenian border guard opened fire in the direction of the Azerbaijani positions. Immediately after that, the Military Police of Armenia announced that an investigation was initiated on the basis of this information, because there is a very strict order from the Ministry of Defense of Armenia not to provoke any escalation, not to give in to provocations.

And that was a very clear message from Armenia, and the press release of the Military Police clearly stated that if that fact is proven, it would mean a violation of the order, resulting in legal consequences. But despite that, early this morning, Azerbaijan started a local but large-scale attack with the use of drones, and as I mentioned, unfortunately four servicemen were killed.

The issue is not even in the incident about which the Azerbaijani media talked last night, because we have a very long and complicated border and if someone is looking for an excuse to escalate, to abort the peace process, they will always find it, even if it is in the form of media publications. Unfortunately, we continuously see this practice from the Azerbaijani side," Prime Minister Pashinyan said.

Referring to the relations between Armenia and the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister noted with satisfaction that there has been a new dynamic in bilateral relations in recent years. Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that this dynamic will not only continue, but will rise to a new level of relations.

Sir John Whittingdale expressed his condolences and support to the families of those killed as a result of Azerbaijan's military operation and to the Armenian people. At the same time, he expressed concern about the military operations and emphasized the need to implement steps aimed at strengthening peace and stability.

The interlocutors discussed a number of issues related to the Armenia-United Kingdom multilateral cooperation, strengthening of inter-parliamentary ties.

Reference was made to the democratic reforms implemented in Armenia, the steps taken by the Armenian government to fight corruption, and the issues related to the processes taking place in the Caucasus.

The UK parliamentarians also referred to the capabilities of the Armenian government in meeting the humanitarian needs of more than 100,000 forcibly displaced people from Nagorno Karabakh. Support from the international community was also highlighted.