2022 February 9

Daily news wrap-up

News digest - Feb/9/2022: Pashinyan on restoring railroads w/customs checkpoints; Borders __ Births are up __ Azeri army boss in trouble __ Supreme court chief about judge's arrest __ Genocide recognition __ Bodies missing since 1990s __ Geopolitics __ New reservist training __ New tech center
by ar_david_hh

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This is your 14-minute Wednesday recap in 3650 words.

Armenia's birthrate grew slightly in 2021

+0.6% vs 2020, and +1.5% vs 2019

2019: 36,041

2020: 36,353

2021: 36,585

Deaths were down 4.2% vs 2020, a total of 34,658. Almost half was due to circulatory diseases.

The permanent population was at 2,961,000, down by 2,300.

http://arka.am/en/news/society/armenia_s_birthrate_grew_slightly_in_2021/ http://arka.am/en/news/society/armenia_s_deaths_in_2021_were_down_4_2_percent_from_2020_/ http://arka.am/en/news/society/armenia_s_permanent_population_drops_by_2_300_people_in_one_year/

U.S. and Turkey discussed the efforts to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations

Anthony Blinken wants to know how the U.S. can help to promote the efforts.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075083.html

MFA Mirzoyan: Armenia will continue its efforts for the international recognition of the Genocide

The Government cabinet was in parliament for a Q&A. ARF wanted to know how treacherous Ararat Mirzoyan is on the scale of 1 to 10, so they asked him if Armenia plans to pursue Genocide recognition.

MFA Mirzoyan: It is clearly stated [in the government program] that Armenia will continue its efforts aimed at both the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the prevention of further manifestations of this crime against humanity.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075132.html

Pashinyan about withdrawing Azeri troops and border demarcation:

In Sochi, we agreed to improve border stability. We agreed that steps should be taken to make the border safer before starting demarcation. Our proposal is a mirrored withdrawal.

That means AM and AZ troops should pull back from the border at an equal distance. A limited number of border guards should be placed. International monitoring should be conducted.

I hear many unwarranted claims in Armenia that our villages will be left undefended after a mirrored withdrawal. This is false. Everything is taken into account.

The fundamental question is: do Armenia and Azerbaijan have a state border today? Yes, we do. In USSR we had a border that was delimited. After 1991, as part of a CIS agreement, which was ratified by AM and AZ, those borders were recognized. Therefore, we believe the mirrored withdrawal should take place [by using those recognized borders]. We're open to discussions.

This mirrored withdrawal doesn't mean the sides legally agree that that's where the final borders are. That is yet to be determined by the final demarcation.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075128.html https://youtu.be/HiifzvWHkhM

Pashinyan: the goal of the OSCE negotiations was/is the signing of a peace treaty with Azerbaijan

Pashinyan: Concluding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan and normalizing relations with Turkey is one of our goals. Some circles attempt to create the impression, inside and outside Armenia, that someone is trying to impose an agenda on Armenia.

In reality, a peace treaty has been the goal of every administration including ours. The purpose of the Karabakh negotiations process has been the signing of a peace treaty, as stated in every document.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075146.html

former Azeri army chief Najmeddin Sadigov is accused of treason (again) over a 1990 war episode

Azeri media: Details were uncovered about Operation Cheildagh conducted on 31 December 1993 in the Aghjabed direction [center-east of Artsakh]. It was delayed by a day and was unsuccessful.

A former ranking Azeri military prosecutor told the media that Sadigov instructed the operation to be delayed, leading to the encirclement of 82 soldiers, who were killed or went missing.

Sadigov falsified the records and, with two other suspects, was charged with treason and abuse of power in 1994, said the ex-investigator. He couldn't arrest Sadigov but the latter lost the right to control the special units and access to sensitive information.

Sadigov was asked to comment but he was "busy, don't bother me". //

Sadigov is viewed as a Russian puppet in the Azeri army and has long been attacked by pro-Turkish circles. The MOD released a statement in January 2021 saying Sadigov is no longer the CoGS, but there were reports dating back to the 2020 war stating that he was fired back then.

https://factor.am/473943.html

hundreds of bodies missing from the 1990s war were found and repatriated

Pashinyan: The humanitarian discussions to locate bodies that went missing after the 1990s war began at the start of 2020 at the advice of OSCE.

Over 4,000 Azeris and 777 Armenians went missing after the first war. Last year we found 108 bodies and sent them to Azerbaijan. 2 will be sent soon.

The humanitarian efforts shouldn't be a topic of a bargain so there is no need to boast about the gesture publicly. We expect Azerbaijan to conduct similar searches. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075125.html

Russia welcomes the repatriation of 8 Armenian POWs

Maria Zakharova: The process of exchanging persons based on the all-for-all principle should finalize ASAP. So far our peacekeepers have mediated the return of 127 Armenians and 19 Azeris. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075152.html

Russia wants UNESCO to visit the endangered monuments in Artsakh ASAP

Maria Zakharova: We regularly discuss the issue of protecting cultural heritage during AM-RU-AZ meetings. We are in favor of organizing a UNESCO mission in the region as soon as possible. On December 7, the OSCE chair states urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to ensure progress in this area. //

Azerbaijan has so far been blocking UNESCO.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075154.html

Pashinyan: a working group was formed to build the missing parts of the Armenia-Nakhijevan-Iran-Azerbaijan railway

Pashinyan: We reached an important agreement in Brussels for the implementation of the railway restoration program. A taskforce was formed to handle the process. They are organizing the construction.

Deputy premier Mher recently met Russian deputy premier Overchuk and Russian Railways director. We're already discussing the technical parts and financing.

This process should be signed as a de-jure agreement. We agreed in Brussels that the railway should operate under international laws. There will be customs checkpoints on the border.

We must agree on the railway track standards so they can connect to each other. This will be an international trade route.

We refer to this road and railway program as "Armenian Crossroads" because Armenia is essentially dealing with a North-South-East-West crossroad, the implementation of which can be a turning point for the economic and financial development of our country. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075134.html https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4290097097757260 https://youtu.be/pcVPvQJoUec

Armenia and Iran congratulated each other on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations

Kind words were exchanged between MFAs and ambassadors. Iranian ambassador spoke about Iran's economic dialogue with the EAEU bloc and the efforts to increase trade with Armenia to $1b.

He welcomed Armenia's efforts to build the North-South highway in Syunik and said he hopes Armenia's position as a transit state will strengthen soon. Iran wants Armenia to be part of the Gulf-to-Black Sea link.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075088.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075115.html

Foreign Minister Mirzoyan was asked to comment Lukashenko's remarks

Context about Lukashenko and the response in [Tuesday post](https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/snv95t/news_recap_feb82022_forty_drivers_charged_wbuying/). A group of Armenians gathered in front of Belarus embassy to protest Lukashenko's remarks about "who else needs Armenia, it should join a Union State".

Mirzoyan basically said: the guy likes to run his mouth for domestic reasons. This isn't the first time he causes a stir. His statements do not reflect Armenia's foreign policy. We summoned the ambassador and informed him that it wasn't nice, and that we should respect each other's sovereignty. Official statements should be within the spirit of good relations between our people.

Russian MFA was asked to comment: Lukashenko wasn't speaking about a Union State. He was talking about the possible integration process, defense, economy, and unions in other fields. It's Lukashenko's vision. As for a union state, it's not a new concept and it's not a closed union. Any state can participate. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075121.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075163.html https://youtu.be/gWrWFfXp27s

army will hold another round of reservist retraining, but this time for a 2-month period

Over 700 reservists, mostly NCOs and officers, will be summoned to retrain in their fields of expertise from April 15 to June 15.

Their backgrounds are artillery & missile, motorized rifle, recon, and engineering.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075104.html

new military base is being built in southern borders

MOD Papikyan was shown the construction area.

https://youtu.be/IDdLLVOno4g?t=34 https://factor.am/473862.html

Afghanistan, CSTO, and NATO

CSTO Secretary Zas: The NATO accumulations on our borders contribute to the militarization of the entire region, negatively affect the security of CSTO, and is a threat to Belarus and Russia. We're monitoring the events and we'll use our emergency response experience gained in Kazakhstan.

Russian rep. at CSTO: CSTO is ready to assist the international efforts to help Afghans live in peace. Its humanitarian crisis negatively affects neighbors and beyond. Our approach remains the same: diplomatic means are an absolute priority in resolving any conflict.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075093.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075114.html

parliament expands family survivor benefits for military

The QP bill was voted 92-0 to expand the beneficiaries in the event of a serviceman's death. If the serviceman doesn't have parents, legal spouse, or children, the payments will be sent to their sister, brother, grandparents, or the de-facto spouse instead.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075078.html

anti-corruption: the director and deputy of Yerevan sanitation department were arrested

The issue of corruption in the sanitation department was raised a few months ago when the Council voted to replace mayor Hayk Marutyan. Council members complained that not enough was being done to address wasteful spending in some departments. NSS and ACC (Anti-Corruption Committee) have been investigating, apparently.

ACC reports: Yerevan's garbage & sanitation department chief Armen Grigoryan and his deputy Karen Torosyan committed forgery, embezzled ֏17m ,and caused another ֏1m in damage due to abuse of power.

The director had urged his deputy to recruit trustworthy people who would agree to register as fake employees and receive $600/mo salaries. Not only that, the director gave 2x salary premiums to the fake workers. [never go full r--ard]

The director also instructed the vehicle fleet administrator to remove and sell bus tires that were still useful, for $20 a pop, leading to ֏1m in damage.

Both have been arrested and charged with crimes. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075120.html

Appeals Court upheld the pretrial detention of Goris mayor accused of June 2021 election fraud

Arush Arushanyan is charged with distributing voter bribes to help the Kocharyan-ARF alliance in the parliamentary elections. He denies wrongdoing. Prosecutors say they identified 115 families who were given bribes disguised as poverty aid. Several officials are implicated in the case.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075077.html

interview with Supreme Judicial Council President Jhangiryan

Lower court Judge Boris Bakhshyan was recently charged with violating a law and intentionally arresting a defendant by applying a different set of rules against him. After he arrested the defendant, the defendant was coerced by a group of individuals to change his testimony, said the prosecutors who brought the case against the judge and yet-to-be-named individuals accused of coercing a different testimony. Prosecutors said the judge later freed the defendant after he changed his testimony.

Sometime after this "coercion" case, judge Bakhshyan presided over another trial and freed a man accused of threatening Pashinyan and possession of illegal weapons. The opposition claims the charges against the judge are a result of him freeing the anti-Pashinyan guy, while the prosecutors call it a coincidence.

To arrest the judge, prosecutors had to obtain permission from the Supreme Judicial Council, consisting of 9 judges and legal experts. Its goal is to defend good and punish bad judges.

Prosecutors presented the evidence against the judge. The Supreme council unanimously ruled in favor of authorizing the arrest.

Reporter: The opposition describes this as an attack against judicial independence. Why did you allow prosecutors to charge the judge?

Court chief: The Council, consisting of 5 legal experts and 4 judges, saw enough evidence to lift the immunity to authorize an arrest.

Reporter: Council is usually conservative when it comes to authorizing charges against fellow judges. Why did they make a unanimous ruling to authorize the charges?

Court chief: It's expected that the Council is often hesitant to punish judges. After all, they themselves were elected by fellow judges. This often leads to unacceptable leniency against unethical judges. But in this case, the prosecutor's case was so strong that the ruling was unanimous. The criticism Supreme Council members receive today is unfair. Judges, too, should not be above the law.

Reporter: If prosecutors truly thought that the judge illegally arrested the [coerced] defendant, why didn't they appeal that verdict sooner? Why are they acting now, after the judge freed the anti-Pashinyan guy?

Court chief: Correlation does not necessarily imply causation. The case was already appealed by the [coerced] defendant so the only thing left for prosecutors was to wait. It usually takes considerable time to prepare a case before submitting it to Supreme Council.

Reporter: The opposition claims that since the automated judge selection process was suspended, they will pick a "convenient" judge to hear the case against judge Bakhshyan. [Context: up until recently judges were selected through a computer lottery system. The NSS said they found a backdoor that allowed persons outside the system to alter the lottery to secretly handpick judges. The system was suspended until a new one can be installed.]

Court chief: That system plays no role in this case. The law defines how judges are selected for a trial if there is no computer system. There are only 8 judges in the entire Yerevan who can be assigned to this case. There is an alphabetical order. How it's handled is the job of that particular court's president.

Reporter: The opposition complains that the government has been filing more disciplinary cases against "unwanted" judges in recent times. What are you doing about it?

Court chief: The claim is that Justice Ministry brings too many disciplinary cases and that we always side with them to punish the judges. In reality, here are the statistics from last year:

28 petitions to discipline a judge, 18 of which were filed by Justice Ministry. We instantly rejected 9 of those, rejected 1 later, and approved only 5.

Union of judges, in turn, submitted 6 disciplinary cases. We satisfied 3, a higher %. A similar picture with the petitions from Corruption Prevention Commission.

So you do the math and decide if we are "a whip in the hands of Justice Ministry". Justice Ministry publicly complains that we are too lenient on judges.

Reporter: You disagree that there is pressure on the judicial branch?

Court chief: The judicial is under pressure due to overload. Compared to 3-4 years ago, the load is 70% higher in the criminal division today, and +80% in the civil division.

I see efforts by the Executive branch to reduce the load. As I've said earlier, there are only 8 judges specialized in [pretrial observation process]. The number is even smaller in provinces: 2 in each. [Was the arrested judge Bakhshyan one of those two?]

https://youtu.be/nC6RG-omzec

COVID stats

7.3k tested. 2.8k infected. 3.3k healed. 6 deaths.

+437% COVID increase in the past 2 weeks v.s. previous 2 weeks

CDC rep.: Today 39% of tests are coming positive, compared to 11% a few weeks earlier. There is a 7.3x increase in the 3-5 age group. The most common strain is Omicron but Delta isn't completely ruled out. Vaccinated patients have significantly milder symptoms.

2.5-fold increase in acute respiratory infections

More people have been calling 911 and visiting clinics with flu-like symptoms in recent weeks. It's mostly 0-14 and 30-64 age groups. 85% of the 456 hospitalized patients are children.

Influenza A H3N2 is a major culprit, said CDC. It spreads fast and often targets children.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075081.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075098.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075101.html

controversial Russian official hospitalized with serious COVID infection

Nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky doesn't like Turkey that much. He recently said Russia should annex eastern Turkey and secure Armenia in a tsar-like regime.

Zhirinovsky: Any democratic regime is unacceptable. And you, Armenians, will get both Kars and Ardahan if there’s a strict regime like a tsar. Under a democratic government, even Yerevan will be taken away from you.

Turkey will not be able to create Great Turan. None of the existing Turkic-speaking states wants to be part of Turkey, neither Kazakhs, nor Uzbeks, nor other nationalities. So they'd better forget about this idea. //

Zhirinovsky caused a diplomatic spat between Russia and Azerbaijan last year with an interview in which he spoke about Russian influence in the Caucasus and advised Ilham Aliyev to be a good boy because he is a dictator who can be overthrown at any moment. He reminded that "Persian Shah gave Azerbaijan as a gift to Russia".

It prompted Azerbaijan to send a note of protest to Russia, and an ex-Azeri diplomat called Russian people "pigs" which led to more diplomatic jabs. Zhirinovsky subsequently called Aliyev a "wise leader" to calm them down.

Other notable manic episodes include him calling the administration to use a nuclear bomb against Chechnia in 1990s, suggesting Russia bomb Ukraine on New Year's Eve, and annexing Alaska.

75yo Zhirinovsky has not been seen in public for several weeks. The media learned that he was hospitalized a few days ago with severe lung damage from COVID pneumonia. His political party LDPR said he's feeling well.

He isn't, though, because he is connected to a lung ventilator. The Healthcare Ministry said Zhirinovsky is receiving the necessary care and is in a stable condition.

Zhirinovsky had earlier claimed to have been vaccinated 7 times with Russian Sputnik V, EpiVac, and CoviVac vaccines.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075119.html https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-zhirinovsky-hospitalized-covid/31694843.html https://tass.com/society/1400319 https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/russia-should-annex-parts-of-eastern-turkey-rt-editor-in-chief-says https://arminfo.info/full_news.php?id=57623&lang=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/p2kbfk/news_aug112021_azerb_accuses_arm_of_deploying/ https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075155.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075161.html https://www.perild.com/2021/12/15/zhirinovsky-received-the-seventh-vaccination-against-covid-19/

Armenian brandy production grew 19% last year to 47m liters

Wine +19% (13m L)

Champagne -19% (903k L)

Vodka -12% (4.5m L)

Whiskey +2% (661k L)

http://arka.am/en/news/business/armenian_brandy_production_up_19_in_2021_to_about_47_million_liters/

update: government is negotiating with Russia to import cheap farming fertilizer after global shortage causes 3x price hike

Economy Minister: We've been negotiating with Russia to purchase fertilizer below the market price. Despite some restrictions, they still allow exports of nitrogen fertilizer within EAEU.

We also drafted a bill on February 7 to subsidize the fertilizer for our farmers. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075136.html

bill approved: textbooks will become free for 1-4 graders, even in private schools

QP's bill was approved today with a 62-2-20 vote. Public schools will no longer be the only ones to receive free textbooks for elementary students.

Expected to go into effect this September.

https://factor.am/473765.html

Pashinyan about point-based traffic violation system and monetary fines

The opposition wants to repeal the point-based traffic system that revokes driver's license after x violations. Alternatively, they want to keep the point system but remove the financial penalty part.

QP MP Vilen Gabrielyan: Our opposition colleagues accused you of forgetting your pre-2018 stance that "a driver should not be a cash cow".

Pashinyan: That's what the new traffic system achieves. In the past, drivers were treated as cash cows. They were told to pay a fine and commit an unlimited number of offenses as long as they had the money. Moreover, we had a $1,000 "luxury" fines for Porsche drivers so they could do whatever they wanted as long as they paid.

After 2018, we pardoned thousands of tickets and reformed the system, and now 15 types of violations no longer result in a monetary fine - only a warning. Some fines were abolished. We reduced the size of other fines.

Today, 90-99% of citations cost less than $60, down from $80-$1000. We replaced it with a system that sanctions the repeat offenders by suspending their license so they won't endanger others or become cash cows. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075141.html

FYI: Sevan city's annual budget is only $3.6 million

The Council met today to discuss capital expenditures and projects that are co-financed by the federal government. Our main goal is for the community to become presentable and prosperous, said the mayor during the session in which they also discussed recent administrative mergers between communities.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075080.html

EstateGuru opens a tech center in Yerevan

EstateGuru is a cross-border marketplace for short-term real estate loans in Europe.

Its co-founder Marek Partel and CTO Ararat Yuzbachyan were in Yerevan to mark the opening ceremony of a branch, attended by Economy Minister Kerobyan and others.

Minister: Armenia keeps the focus on high-tech as a source of new opportunities. It's great to see international tech firms become part of the Armenian ecosystem. Despite challenges, our tech and startup industry is growing. EstateGuru will help our programmers to become more competitive.

Marek Partel: We observed a flourishing industry in Armenia and decided to open a service center here. Our team will grow from 25 to 40 members by the end of this year, and to 100 by 2025.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075165.html

Armenian student chess players win 3rd place in an international tournament

World chess champion Garik Gasparyan's foundation organized a tournament participated by 691 universities from around the world. Armenian "fizkult" institute students finished 3rd. The top two were students from American universities.

https://factor.am/473567.html

boxer Bachkov's next match will be held in Dubai on March 18

The world bronze winner Hovhannes Bachkov will compete against Argentinian Cristian Rafael Coria (aka El Zorro). The latter, for some reason, was suspended by his national boxing federation until March 17, the eve of the match.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075110.html https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/355509

Armenian film "Zulali" is among nominees for Nika Awards in the "Best CIS Film" category

Directed by Hayk Ordyan and released in October 2021, the film is about personal hardships in the small community of Berd (Tavush) and explores the mysteries hidden in a tiny village house. The actors speak in the local dialect. It's based on Narine Abgharyan's novel "Zulali".

https://mirrorspectator.com/2021/11/05/the-pure-spirit-of-zulali-appears-on-the-big-screen/ https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1075079.html

Kanye West's obsession over Kim Kardashian takes a weird turn 🍿

Kanye is in an open relationship with his new girlfriend Julia Fox because he wants to simultaneously bang a side-chick who physically resembles Kim Kardashian. That lookalike is Chaney Jones.

>West is "openly seeking" a romance with Instagram model Chaney Jones

Kanye held a listening party for his new album Donda 2. Chaney Jones was invited as a special guest. She was seen dressed like Kim at a dinner party.

Kanye is still upset at Kim over last week's kerfuffle over "putting a hit" remarks. He wants Kim to publicly apologize and for her family to "stop bullying" him.

https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/who-is-chaney-jones-kim-kardashian-lookalike-seen-with-kanye-west/ https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/kanye-west-julia-fox-open-relationship https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/leylamohammed/kanye-west-demands-public-apology-from-kim-kardashian https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/hollywood/kanye-west-s-date-chaney-jones-dresses-kim-kardashian-dinner-amid-his-breakup-rumours-julia-fox-1018232

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

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/son3tc/news_digest_feb92022_pashinyan_on_restoring/