Weekly update
25 June
Armenia must be fully ready for “imminent war” with Azerbaijan, expert on Iran Vardan Voskanyan said in his new Telegram series concerning the conflict. Panorama.am reports: “Is it possible to avert war in such a region and with such an enemy as Azerbaijan? Yes, it is but only in the case of actual surrender. But is this the vision of the millennia-long program of the Armenian statehood? Of course no!” he wrote. “Accordingly, there is only one way to avoid war: not to fear it and surrender, thus destroying the dream of our ancestors, our dream and the dream of our generations, but to be prepared for war in the broad sense.
https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2022/06/25/expert-war/2699972
24 June
According to news.am, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov received confirmation of his readiness to take part in the delimitation commission during his visit to Yerevan, he said during a briefing with his Azerbaijani counterpart in Baku, responding to a question about Armenia's alleged failure to fulfill its obligations in order to buy time. Lavrov said that he had not seen any signals from either party that they had changed their minds and did not want to take part in this work: "On the contrary, I have received confirmation both in Yerevan and today during the talks that delimitation is a very important component of all efforts at the current stage."
https://news.am/eng/news/708855.html
23 June
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide a $120 million grant to Armenia to strengthen democracy and economic stability. In line with hetq.am the Armenian government approved acceptance of the grant. $68.6 million will be used to fight corruption in Armenia and to implement reforms in the judiciary, public administration and self-government. Chief of Staff of PM Nikol Pashinyan’s Office Arayik Harutyunyan, at a government cabinet session said the remainder will be used to improve public sector systems and to draft an effective program to attract investment and improve business sector transparency.
https://hetq.am/en/article/145875
22 June
Russia voiced doubts about the sincerity of a recent statement made by the United States, which claimed it is ready to work with Russia, despite a complete severing of relations, on the Karabakh conflict settlement process. In accordance with asbarez.com during a weekend interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried insisted that the U.S. is willing to continue to cooperate with Russia in facilitating a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Wednesday accused the U.S. and France of abandoning the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs process in mediating a settlement for the Karabakh conflict.
https://asbarez.com/moscow-doubts-sincerity-of-u-s-statements-on-karabakh/
1 June
European Union countries reached a political consensus on Tuesday to grant Ukraine membership candidate status at the EU summit on June 23-24, said France’s secretary of state for European affairs. In line with tass.com "EU countries have reached a broad consensus, even a full political consensus on granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for membership in the EU," Clement Beaune told a news conference following a meeting of the Council of the European Union. Today’s discussions yielded total consensus on the possibility to consider the membership candidate bids, especially from Ukraine, in the shortest time, Beaune said, also referring to Moldova and Georgia’s European aspirations.
https://tass.com/world/1469183
20 June
The United States is willing to continue to cooperate with Russia in facilitating a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried insisted over the weekend. According to azatutyun.am the U.S., Russia and France have for decades jointly tried to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord in their capacity as the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. According to Russian officials, Washington and Paris stopped working with Moscow in the Minsk Group format following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Donfried denied this as she visited Armenia on the last leg of her tour of the three South Caucasus states. “The U.S. has continued to say that we support the Minsk Group co-chair process,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in an interview.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31906767.html
19 June
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried, the PM’s Office said. In line with armenpress.am in his remarks PM Pashinyan highlighted the constant development and expansion of the Armenian-American relations and stated that Mrs. Donfried’s visit is another opportunity to discuss the issues of the bilateral agenda. He added that the development of democracy is one of the key priorities of the Armenian government. The sides also touched upon the processes taking place in the South Caucasus region, the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, and the activity of delimitation and border security commission between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1086350.html
18 June
The self-proclaimed “Resistance Movement,” which was led by the two opposition blocs in parliament, both associated with the deeply disliked former ruling regime, failed to gain much traction and participation in the protests began to peter out. According to eurasianet.org the protests had become more violent. On June 3, protesters blocked all entrances to the main government building, demanding a meeting with Pashinyan. When that didn’t happen, they marched toward his official residence. Near the residence they clashed with police and more than 60, most of them police officers, were hospitalized with injuries. On June 14, organizers announced they would dismantle the tent camp and regroup. In a speech at France Square one of the opposition leaders, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, acknowledged that would-be supporters may have been turned off by the association with the country’s former leadership. Civil Contract MPs are looking into the possibility of stripping 14 opposition lawmakers of their mandates because they have missed so many sessions of parliament.
https://eurasianet.org/armenian-opposition-scales-back-protests-but-promises-to-impeach-pm
Sources: panorama.am, news.am, hetq.am, asbarez.com, tass.com, azatutyun.am, armenpress.am, eurasianet.org