11-minute read
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SHARMAZANOV (pro-Russia politician): Pashinyan spared no effort to appease and glorify Vladimir Putin in the period before the war in Ukraine. Even Russia's ruling party members weren't glorifying Putin that much. Do you remember Pashinyan's [September 8, 2022] speech in Vladivostok? He looked at Putin as the god Jupiter and praised his "ability to resolve issues promptly". But as soon as Russia suffered setbacks in Ukraine, Pashinyan changed his position. //
[Or perhaps because 4 days after that fawning speech, Azerbaijan invaded Armenia with Russia's silent permission, prompting Armenia to change its position? More on that below...]
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REPORTER: Your administration has been talking about "diversification", and more lately we've been hearing a similar language coming from the EU. You've said you're doing this to fill the security gap left by Russia, but Russia views this as a change of foreign vector by Armenia. Russia claims it was ready to provide the security so we didn't need to "diversify" it.
ARMEN: The need for diversification arose objectively because in 2021 we signed contracts with Russia to acquire weapons and reform our army but they didn't move forward. We had a comprehensive plan for army reforms with the help of Russia. Instead, Armenia was attacked in May and November and Russia did not deliver the weapons that we had already purchased from them. We had $250 million in contracts.
That's what prompted us to search for new partners. We ended up signing contracts with India and France.
96% of Armenia's defense cooperation was with Russia as of 2020. Starting in 2021 we signed contracts worth several billion dollars with multiple states, in which Russia's share is under 10%. This was a result of Russia's choice.
REPORTER: But Russia
did sign contracts in 2021?
ARMEN: They did, but didn't deliver the products. Moreover, it wasn't because of the war in Ukraine. We signed the contracts a year before the war in Ukraine. They didn't deliver because that was their decision. We had to face the consequences of their decision, so we decided to diversify.
REPORTER: Our economy and exports continue to heavily rely on Russia.
ARMEN: We are taking steps to diversify export markets. We are cooperating with the EU to bring our standards to a level that will allow us to become competitive in the European market.
REPORTER: But what about the diversification of gas, fuel, and nuclear sources?
ARMEN: We are working on every one of those directions. We don't have significant results because it's not like we have many choices for gas imports at necessary volumes, but we are discussing all these issues with our colleagues.
REPORTER: Once again, are you saying that Armenia's pivot to the West and India was triggered by Russia's own actions or lack thereof?
ARMEN: Absolutely. Russia made us face reality by not delivering the weapons.
REPORTER: I do recall the 2021 agreements with Russia on army reforms and the famous dagger gifted by MOD Sergey Shoygu. It prompted a complaint by Azerbaijan. Did Russia explain why it refused to deliver?
ARMEN: Russia said they were concerned that the delivery of weapons to Armenia would prompt Armenia to adopt a tougher diplomatic stance.
REPORTER: Tougher stance during negotiations with Azerbaijan?
ARMEN: Including with Azerbaijan. Any country that's armed properly can resist and defend its interests.
REPORTER: Hold on. Russia said they wouldn't give us weapons and wouldn't help reform the army so that our diplomatic policies wouldn't toughen?
ARMEN: Yes.
[long silence]
REPORTER: May I ask who exactly said that?
ARMEN: I won't give a name but that was their official policy. Armenia's strategic mistake was relying solely on [Russia] for everything since 1991.
REPORTER: Russia says CSTO is ready to deploy its observers.
ARMEN: Deploy where?
REPORTER: Armenia.
ARMEN: They don't recognize Armenia's borders, unlike the EU and its observers.
REPORTER: The European Parliament mentioned the need to deploy EU observers on the Armenia-Turkey border.
ARMEN: We haven't held such discussions so far.
REPORTER: You said the EU observers have no access to Nerkin Hand because of Russian guards, but the NSS contradicted your statement.
ARMEN: I can confirm that the EU observers don't have access specifically in the area in Nerkin Hand toward the state border. We are going to address this issue.
REPORTER: Russia's foreign ministry accused you of manipulating the topic of Nerkin Hand protection. They said there are no Russian "soldiers" in Nerkin Hand, and that there are only border agents.
ARMEN: The Russian border agency's outpost in Nerkin Hand includes border "forces". These forces were deployed to help ensure security. Perhaps Russia no longer finds the AM-RU agreement valid, but de jure Russia is a defense partner of Armenia. This AM-RU defense mechanism implemented in the 1990s hasn't worked one bit.
REPORTER: Russia accused the EU observers of "spying" on Russia
and Iran.
ARMEN: I don't understand why Russia speaks about Iran while trying to address its own problems. First of all, there are no EU observers on our border with Iran, so I don't understand why Russia claims that. The observers are only deployed on the border with Azerbaijan and there are no discussions to expand it to other borders.
REPORTER: But how exactly could the EU observers "spy" on Russian guards?
["Spying" is an accusation used by Azerbaijan and Russia]
ARMEN: I don't know how they would "spy". Russia can make any accusation. Let them provide evidence and we'll discuss it.
REPORTER: The [pro-Russia] opposition mocks you for importing a couple of night-vision binoculars from France.
ARMEN: I'm surprised they say that. We are importing ammunition [զինամթերք] with modern technologies from France.
REPORTER: Is this something not mentioned in the recent public reports?
ARMEN: [blank face]
REPORTER: Is there an undisclosed agreement we don't know about?
ARMEN: In general, military-technical cooperation should not be discussed openly. It requires silent work.
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REPORTER: Does the presence of Russian agents at Zvartnots concern you?
RULING MP: Yes. We are concerned about this just as the majority of the public. This issue is a topic of discussion within our party. If there is a decision you will know about it.
REPORTER: What are you discussing? Increasing their numbers, or decreasing?
RULING MP: The concern is not that there are too few of them, the concern is that their number is above zero.
REPORTER: You've been in charge for 6 years. Why did you only now become concerned about their presence?
RULING MP: A lot has changed throughout these 6 years. Every event must be followed by relevant decisions and judgments. Sadly we were too late in realizing that CSTO is dysfunctional. Today we are solving a problem instead of leaving it for future generations.
REPORTER: Is there a legal agreement that authorized the deployment of Russian agents at the airport?
RULING MP: We have an AM-RU agreement on border protection so whether the airport is considered a "border" envisaged under this agreement is something that needs to be clarified. In any case, the oversight of Armenia's air traffic hubs must be carried out by Armenian agencies.
REPORTER: Have you already discussed their removal with the Russian government?
RULING MP: Let's wrap this up for now.
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No details.
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REPORTER: Parliament President Alen Simonyan recently stated that Armenia should discuss efforts to receive EU candidacy. Are you and Pashinyan taking any steps in this direction?
RULING MP: In his famous speech at the European Parliament, Pashinyan very clearly stated that Armenia is ready to get as close to the EU as the EU allows us to. Yes, we are ready to upgrade our relations considering the need for new market opportunities, the civilizational path chosen by us, the political direction, the strengthening of democracy, and the fact that the EU observers play a very important role today in the protection of Armenia's borders.
This is why you've seen efforts lately to strengthen our ties with individual members of the EU [Hungary?]. Let's not forget that at least 2 of our 4 neighbors are EU candidates. This has physically moved the EU closer to Armenia. The EU also has one of the best economic integration models. //
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REPORTER: Yesterday PM Pashinyan met the ruling party to discuss the ideologies of unions of European parties. Does this mean you intend to submit your membership to any European political group?
RULING MP: The party meets every Thursday to discuss various topics. We also discuss our cooperation with various political groups around the world with whom we share common values. It is not a secret that we want to cooperate with the European family, so it's natural to occasionally discuss this topic and possible cooperation.
REPORTER: Is there a possibility of your party joining them?
RULING MP: I won't rule that out. It's been around 5 years since we began participating in discussions held by European groups in PACE. Part of our PACE delegation, representing both ruling and opposition parties, is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). For example, ARF is a member of Socialists, LHK was part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, and BHK had joined Conservatives. Our QP party's Thursday discussion was not something unprecedented, it was actually long overdue.
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RosSelkhozNadzor says it has found coli bacteria in Armenian red caviar exported by "Max Fish"; the import is suspended.
The Russian regulator also found high levels of antibiotics in canned meat imported from Belarusian "Belfood Production" firm. They were placed under a watch.
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AMBASSADOR: Two weeks ago in Brussels we started a joint process to develop a new partnership agenda. Our cooperation is strong, but there are areas in which the partnership can be improved to respond to the aspirations of the Armenian people, including improving the quality of life and expanding contacts.
Security is an area where we did not have extensive cooperation before, but now the EU observation mission will strengthen its monitoring and patrolling of Armenia's state border.
REPORTER: Is this aimed at reducing Armenia's dependence on Russia?
AMBASSADOR: Armenian authorities have asked for diversification and increased security and economic opportunities. We are in the process of supporting Armenia's sovereignty, independence, and institutional capacities.
The EU-AM trade relations should be based on new unified quality standards. We are helping Armenia's private businesses with the EIP that launched in 2021. It has already mobilized over €550 million in investments which were directed to the private sector in Armenia. We are also working with Armenian banks to provide more liquidity, including to empower SMEs.
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The government has decided to provide housing to refugees through one of these options: money to build a house, money to buy a house, or an opportunity to live in social housing.
Each family member will receive ֏3 million ($7,500) towards housing. There will be additional help if the refugee chooses to live in certain communities.
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Another 40 are being built by the My Step Charitable Foundation on plots owned by the refugees, in a joint project with the government of Cyprus and the local Armenian diaspora.
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Antalya Summit began in Turkey. The Armenian delegation presented the recent diplomatic developments and Azerbaijan's refusal to reaffirm the 3 principles that "serve as the pillars of the peace architecture".
Armenian delegation said Armenia's Constitution is Armenia's internal business and not something Azerbaijan should be concerned about, reminding that one of the paragraphs of the peace treaty that's being drafted will state that the countries' internal laws cannot overwrite the peace treaty, "therefore Azerbaijan should not worry what Armenia's Constitution says".
The Armenian delegation said Azerbaijan is "not interested" in proceeding with the agreements reached earlier, and expressed hope that this will change.
In response to Azerbaijan's "concerns" about Armenia's acquisition of French and Indian weapons, the Armenian delegation said Armenia has the right to arm itself and reminded that Azerbaijan is doing the same.
Azerbaijan says they support signing a peace treaty without clarifying the border demarcation issue. Armenia, in contrast, says the peace treaty must mention the details and maps that will be used in the future for demarcating the borders. Both sides agree that the demarcation itself is going to take many years and will be done after the signing of the peace treaty, but Armenia wants the peace treaty to define the terms of the future demarcation.
ARMENIA: Words show the true motivation. We have presented the Crossroads of Peace because we want peace in the region. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, talks about a "corridor" through Armenia, which is a violation of our sovereignty. We have never agreed to any "corridor". All roads should open in the region without a violation of countries' sovereignty.
AZERBAIJAN: Let's not be pessimists. First of all, we already have peace with Armenia for 5 months with the exception of one incident. There are unwanted rumors that Azerbaijan supposedly wants territories of Armenia. This is not the case. The war is over because the occupation is over. We are focused on developing our state. We can connect Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan through Iran or through Armenia by implementing a combination of connectivity methods used around the world; we don't have to implement an exact copy of an internationally used model.
GEORGIA: Keep fighting while we enjoy the EU membership, morons.
TURKEY: We closed the border with Armenia in 1993. Recently we agreed to open it for citizens of 3rd countries and diplomatic envoys. In the future, we will expand it to include citizens of both states. We're ready to visit Yerevan next week, and the Armenian delegation is welcome to visit Ankara.
ARMENIA: We will discuss the possibility of organizing an AM-TR meeting in Yerevan next week.
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MEDIA: Pashinyan reached an agreement with the UK's spy agency in Munich to organize Zelensky's visit to Armenia. Zelensky would visit Baku then Yerevan and bring several Armenian POWs with him, under the "pressure" of the UK. The UK wanted to deal another blow to AM-RU relations. Pashinyan happily agreed but Aliyev did not, so the visit was canceled.
KAREN SARGSYAN (analyst): The source of this information is not very trustworthy.
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ACC: A ranking official working at the unified social service requested and received thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for forging documents to allow several seniors and aid recipients to defraud the state. The criminal case is sent to court. //
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They will move or install internet, lighting, and traffic light cables. This will allow them to install new poles.
28 streets in total. The expected completion date is 2026.
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A group of scientists and representatives of the mining industry have discovered 10 ml of lithium in 1 liter of water taken from several parts of Armenia.
They will dispatch a team of experts to the UK to study the topic of lithium extraction. Possible areas of interest are geographic locations with hot spring waters and magma formations.
Lithium is used in batteries, electric cars, and solar farms.
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