2021 December 10

Daily news wrap-up

News - Dec/10/2021: Artsakh economy & budget recovering; New energy projects __ Sasna Tsrer hostage verdict __ MOD: army repels Azeri attack __ Ishkhanasar: Majors, Lieutenants, contractors among charged __ Bill approved: media transparency & unidentified source __ Summit: EAEU, Biden, UK
by ar_david_hh

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This is your 10-minute Friday report in 2642 words.

update: 5 recently-returned captives were charged with violating military order during November 16 clashes

Prosecutors recently charged an army Major G.G. with deserting his positions instead of organizing defense in Ishkhanasar. Five soldiers were charged after returning home from captivity.

Among the charged soldiers are Leuthenant S.A. and contractor R.N. The court has agreed to arrest them pre-trial.

Another Major, N.E., is also a suspect, but the court refused to arrest him.

https://factor.am/452486.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1069157.html

MOD: the army repelled an Azeri attack on the eastern border

The clashes began on December 8. Two Armenians were wounded, and one Azeri was killed.

MOD reports that Azerbaijan resumed the attacks today, but the Armenian side was able to repel it. "The opponent retreated to their original positions after sustaining losses". One Armenian soldier was killed and 8 were wounded.

Armenian MFA: Azerbaijan should refrain from provocative rhetoric and actions, and should not hinder the ongoing efforts to establish stability in the region.

In other news...

MOD criticized a group of protesters: two soldiers were lightly wounded yesterday and had to be transported to a hospital. The same day, a group of protesters who had shut down a Vardenis road for internal political issues, learned that the vehicle with wounded soldiers would pass through the area, and informed the army command that they wouldn't allow the vehicle to pass. As a result, the vehicle had to use a longer route to the hospital, which significantly delayed the medical care for the soldiers. Obstruction of medical care to wounded servicemen is beyond all moral limits, regardless of any reason. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070440.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070414.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070451.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070492.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070506.html https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/297285/

Appeals court upholds Sasna Tsrer's guilty verdict about 2016 hostage takeover

Police officials were killed and injured. The group demanded Serj's resignation, reportedly after learning about Serj's plans to hand over territories to Azerbaijan after the 2016 April defeat.

The lower court verdict was read on [April 12](https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/i8kbvj/aug122020_news_2016_yerevan_hostage_crisis_trial/). The members were sentenced to 5yr to life. Today the Appeals court upheld the verdict but changed Bilyan's prison term. Here is how long they will serve in prison without counting the time served:

Armen Bilyan: 25 years (instead of 5yr, found guilty of killing a policeman)

Smbat Barseghyan: 25

Pavel Manukyan (mustache guy): 7

Gagik Yeghiazaryan: 7.5

Areg Kyureghyan: 7

Varuzhan Avetisyan: 7.5

Sedrak Nazaryan: 8

Edward Grigoryan: 6.5

Mkhitar Avetisyan: 7.5

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070423.html https://factor.am/452308.html

Artsakh govt official: any Armenian official can visit Artsakh without asking for Azerbaijan's "permission"

Azeri officials recently canceled a meeting as a sign of protest after a group of Armenian Parliament members visited Artsakh at an official level.

Artsakh State Minister Beglaryan: any person, especially Armenian, can and should visit Artsakh in coordination with the Artsakh authorities only. Azerbaijan has nothing to do here.

Any Armenian official is free to visit Artsakh. Azerbaijan is obviously very nervous. If they want to resolve the conflict, they should refrain from making such convulsions. They must accept that we have our rights and our homeland.

Armenians marked the 30th anniversary of the Artsakh independence referendum

99.7% voted to be independent in the 1991 referendum. President Arayik Harutyunyan released a statement about Artsakh's journey, the adoption of Artsakh's Constitution in 2006 through a referendum that defined Artsakh as a sovereign state (reaffirmed in 2017), and the need to rebuild Artsakh's economy and infrastructure after the 2020 war.

Arayik spoke about the ongoing housing construction for IDPs: 5,000 new apartments within the next 3 years. That doesn't mean we have given up on IDPs returning to the occupied homeland, said Arayik, "but the negotiations could take a while, and we can't allow IDPs to live in temporary camps".

Artsakh budget will almost double next year through subsidies / Needs more investments

Arayik Harutyunyan: every family will have an apartment. A Series of programs aimed at boosting demographics are being and will be implemented.

Many problems have been resolved thanks to the All Armenia Fund, the Armenian government, and international partners, but we still need to increase our budget and find institutional solutions.

Thanks to the support from Armenia, our 2022 budget will have ֏215B for expenditures. For comparison, we had ֏122B in 2020.

This will allow us to solve many problems, but we need a lot more to improve the socio-economic and demographic picture. We need investments.

I once again urge parliamentary and non-parliamentary forces to set aside political differences and cooperate with us. The doors are open for cooperation. //

Artsakh's own budget revenues are also rising / New factories, mines, and hydros

State Minister Beglaryan: we see positive trends in the economy this year. If at the beginning of the year we forecasted our budget revenues at ֏17B, then today's calculations indicate ֏31B.

Nevertheless, we have a lot of work to do to rebuild the economy. We need to transition from social aid packages to development packages.

Positive trends are also seen in agriculture and services. Certain problems relating to infrastructure have been addressed.

We will have two new mines soon. Diasporans plan to open a textile factory(ies).

We also have energy projects. Two new large hydro-power stations will restore Artsakh's energy self-sufficiency. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070485.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070405.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070407.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070472.html

Russian peacekeepers guarded the construction of 30km roads in Artsakh

Artsakh had asked the peacekeepers to ensure the safety of construction crews. More than 30km of roads have been restored in Shushi and other regions, said peacekeeping mission.

https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/297277/

EAEU leaders held a conference to discuss trade & policies

Pashinyan: we need to develop the internal EAEU market and remove many restrictions and barriers to ensure growth. We need structural transformation of our economies amid fluctuations in global commodity markets.

Service export is becoming more important. It can serve as a new impetus for the diversification of exports of developing countries. These exports are currently not at an ideal volume.

We need to increase the share of national currencies in internal EAEU transactions. The inflationary events and the global rising prices once again confirm this need.

At the same time, we must expand the international cooperation horizons and create a wide network of trade ties. The temporary EAEU-Iran agreement looks promising. We should extend it.

The development of industrial potential depends on the digitalization of the environment. We need to develop technology chains and jointly establish engineering labs. Armenia has a potential that may be in demand in EAEU's "megaprojects".

More: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070463.html

Moscow hosted the first preliminary meeting for 3+3 platform

Russia, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan took part. Georgia was missing, so it was 3+2.

Moscow: prospects for the development of multilateral regional cooperation were discussed during the meeting. An agreement was reached to focus the work of the platform on the practical issues that are of interest to all its participants.

These include confidence-building measures, cooperation in the trade, economic, transport, cultural and humanitarian spheres, and response to common challenges and threats. //

Yerevan: deputy foreign ministers visited Moscow to take part in the first meeting aimed at establishing the regional consultation platform.

We reaffirm that the agenda of this regional consultative platform should be the creation of mutually beneficial cooperation, and it should not duplicate other international platforms including those that have a mandate to resolve conflicts. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070488.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070499.html

prominent PU MP Ishkhan Zakaryan is leaving the Serj-Vanetsyan alliance

What's noteworthy is that Zakaryan will serve as an independent MP, meaning PU won't be able to replace him with the next candidate on the ballot. Zakaryan's new position could give him more flexibility during bill debates.

Zakaryan has been a vocal supporter of Armenia's alliance with Russia, saying Moscow is where the key is.

Zakaryan: any political party has certain constraints. That's why I'm leaving. I don't want my activities to be restricted. I don't want to cause inconvenience to PU with my activities. //

Zakaryan was the Culture Minister in 1997-2003 and later served in numerous other offices. He has been a member of Gagik Tsarukyan's and Serj Sargsyan's fractions.

PU office did not comment on Zakaryan's exit, but a PU MP said he wasn't surprised about Zakaryan's decision, and that Zakaryan should have ideally left the Parliament altogether so PU could appoint a replacement.

https://youtu.be/bJB40gqQrY4 https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070411.html http://parliament.am/deputies.php?sel=details&ID=1197&lang=eng https://news.am/arm/news/676829.html https://lurer.com/?p=443367&l=am https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070421.html

Turkey news

The number of farms in Turkey has reduced by 53% in the past decade, and by 26% in the past 5 years, according to haberturk outlet. Farming lands shrank by 5% since 2010, and 12% since 2000.

In other news, Istanbul residents formed long lines yesterday to buy cheap bread amid the worsening economy. "We used to buy four loaves but one loaf is now three lira. How can we buy it?"

Istanbul mayor criticized the Erdogan administration for the economic policies. A member of the main opposition CHP party said that every time Erdogan gives a speech about economic policies, something goes wrong.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070447.html https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/turkey-long-lines-cheap-bread-istanbul-amid-lira-crisis https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070457.html

report sheds lights on more shady property dealings by Aliyev regime in the UK

According to Chatham House, several ex-Soviet republic officials have obtained hundreds of properties worth $2.6B in the UK.

In London and southwest England, about a hundred properties were purchased by elites from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia, between 1998-2020.

Aliyev family has an honorable place on the list. The majority of 27 Azeri properties belong to Mehriban Aliyeva and her family, mostly in the Knightsbridge area of London.

Other Azeri elites and launderers include oligarchs close with Aliyev. Businessman Ashraf Kamilov has 11 properties in London.

The aforementioned properties are worth around 500 million pounds sterling.

Pandora Papers recently revealed $700M in shady properties.

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/12/uks-kleptocracy-problem/annex https://factor.am/452531.html

Day-2: Pashinyan delivered remarks during Joe Biden's Democracy Summit

He spoke about 1991 independence, the security challenges Armenia is facing today, climate change, Armenian people choosing democracy over authoritarianism in 2018 and 2021, and the ongoing efforts to strengthen Armenia's institutions. "By 2026, we aim to achieve continuous improvements in comparative indicators, specifically rising from a score of 50 to 60 in the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicator, and 49 to 60 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index."

https://youtu.be/pURR4B67oWU https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1070497.html https://factor.am/452629.html

Armenia sees improvement in human protection index

Report: According to Freedom House, Armenia remains a partly free country as of 2021, with 22 out of 40 points. There was a 1-point improvement compared to 2020.

Civil rights protection: 33 out of 60 (+1)

Overall: 55 out of 100 (+2)

2017: 45 points

2021: 55 points

Georgia 60, Armenia 55, Turkey 32, Iran 16, Azerbaijan 10.

https://factor.am/452600.html

Parliament approves media outlet transparency & "unidentified sources" legal liability bill

Under the changes, the media will not be exempted from liability if they cite unidentified sources or disseminate their information.

It won't be against the law to reprint the information, but the outlet won't be able to "hide" behind the claim that they were simply sharing, if the original source is anonymous, said a ruling party MP.

The bill was introduced [amid a wave of fake news and targeted attacks that spread via Telegram last year.](https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/lby2ob/feb32021_1_mediaport_telegram_channel/) At the time, some larger outlets were criticized for misleading the public by unintentionally or intentionally copy-pasting false information from Telegram.

Kocharyan-ARF alliance is against the bill. They expressed concerns that it will hinder journalistic work by "requiring media outlets to deanonymize sources". Media outlets owned by Kocharyan were among those accused of intentionally spreading misinformation by citing anonymous Telegram sources, some of which were later linked to pro-Kocharyan activists.

The authors of the bill said they removed several problematic parts from the bill after consulting with international experts, but some media experts critical of the bill found it not enough.

Authors: amendments will not deprive people of the right to speak anonymously or under a different name. There is no additional burden on media outlets to identify who the sources are, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be held accountable.

It is the duty of journalists to verify the truthfulness of their report, sometimes by checking with multiple sources, before reprinting it. This is the cornerstone of journalistic ethics. This is how it works around the world.

Outlets can continue to cite their anonymous sources, and sources can continue to remain anonymous. Journalists can continue to cite their anonymous sources but they will be responsible for what they share from the unknown source. Often, these unknown social media accounts are created outside Armenia to spread disinformation, anti-vaxx propaganda, create national security risks, etc. //

There are also transparency requirements. If the media outlet does not submit a financial report and does not reveal its "identity", it won't be officially accredited.

Parliament voted 62-25 to approve the bill.

https://factor.am/452267.html https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/qdvfmz/im_back_with_a_news_recap_oct14212021_new_nuclear/

bill approved: new hiring requirements for directors of state non-profit organizations

Parliament voted 61-26 to approve the government bill. Currently, a PAOK leader can be any adult with higher education and 3 years of experience in a relevant field. Under new rules, the pool of potential applicants will increase to include those with 4-5 years of experience in similar public service.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070415.html

bill approved: employers can fire workers who refuse to show PCR test results for >10 days

Parliament voted 60-26 to approve the government bill. The employer can refuse to pay and can prevent the employee from visiting the workplace. The employment contract can be broken if the employee doesn't comply for 10 consecutive days or 20 days in a month.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070413.html

Los Angeles city library is helping the National Library of Armenia with new computers & tech

A few months ago the LA library director asked the Armenian counterpart to send the list of necessary tech to help with the ongoing digitization of a large inventory that includes books and newspapers. In addition, new and faster servers will help online visitors, said the director.

Combined, these donations account for 30% of the overall tech revamp program.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070432.html

green energy conference was held in Armenia

HSBC and the UK embassy organized a conference in Yerevan on Friday.

Deputy Premier: this year the government approved the 2021-2030 national plan under the Paris Agreement. We plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to 1990 levels. The plan includes:

1) Increasing the share of green energy in the energy production industry.

2) Promoting electric vehicles and developing [EV] infrastructure.

3) Increasing the forest coverage.

Armenia's resources won't be enough to tackle all these issues, so [we hope you'll give us money]. Works are being done in his direction. The Central Bank is cooperating with international platforms. //

The guests discussed financial risks and mitigations associated with the transformation process.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070465.html

Yerevan's Swan Lake has turned into a skating rink again

The official opening ceremony is on December 14. Figure skating lovers are welcome every day from 11:00-16:00 and 18:00-22:00.

$1 entry fee. $1 skate rental for kids and adults. There will be a coach at all times.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070507.html

Flyone Armenia new low-coster is preparing for the first flight

The A320 jet has arrived in Zvartnots ahead of its first flight to Moscow on December 15. There will be multiple destinations.

Flyone Armenia CEO Mircea Maleca: the launch of regular direct flights to Moscow is of special importance for our passengers because they can visit their relatives in Russia or make work trips more often thanks to low prices starting at €39. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070467.html

Chess: Magnus Carlsen defends the title of world champion

Magnus Carlsen 7.5-3.5 Ian Nepomniayshiy

https://factor.am/452663.html

top-10 bestseller Armenian books in November

5) Չարենց և Արﬔնուհի. Սիրախաղ կրակի հետ, by Hovik Charkhchyan

4) Կախվածություն, by Syune Sevada

3) Էս ի՞նչ եք անում, տղերք, by Vazgen Sargsyan

2) Ինձ պիոններ չնվիրես, by Gohar Navasardyan

1) Դուռը, by Vano Siradeghyan

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070312.html

end of report

The accused are innocent unless proven guilty in the court of law, even if they "appear" guilty.

News archive: http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Daily_Anti-Corruption_Reports

Donations: soldiers' families, humanitarian aid, US tax-deductible donation.

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/rdhoo0/news_dec102021_artsakh_economy_budget_recovering/