Weekly update
6 November
Unblocking of regional transport routes will open up additional perspectives for Armenia and Russia in the realization of the “North-South” project, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement ahead of the anniversary of the trilateral statement signed by leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020, TASS reports. According to armradio.am the Ministry reminded that as a result of eight sessions of the working group under the co-chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, a report was presented describing specific rail and road routes to restore communication between Armenia and Azerbaijan with access to transport communications of neighboring countries, which, it said, will increase transit attractiveness of the region and will attract additional investment. “It is important, especially in light of the media reports on the situation around the so-called ‘Zangezur corridor,’ that all participants of the trilateral working group have agreed that all unblocked and newly created transport routes will operate on the basis of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states through which they pass,” the Ministry stated.
https://en.armradio.am/2021/11/06/sovereignty-and-territorial-integrity-will-be-respected-russia-comments-on-so-called-zangezur-corridor/
5 November
In line with eurasiareview.com before becoming prime minister during Armenia’s “velvet revolution,” Pashinyan had been notable for his criticisms of Armenian state dependence—indeed vassalage—to Russia. The “back-story” to present-day state-to-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan is therefore more complicated than appears at first glance. Russia, however, is well aware of this back-story, and it was a signal that they remained neutral in the 2021 snap parliamentary elections. These elections were an electoral battle mainly between Pashinyan and the other dominant Karabakh-clan politician, Robert Kocharyan, who had been president from 1998 to 2008. Today, even Russian security elites have pragmatically recognized that in some ways good relations with Baku are more important to Moscow than is the subjection of Yerevan.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/05112021-a-geopolitical-reshuffle-in-south-caucasus-analysis/
4 November
When war broke out in 2020, Putin alone was willing to throw his weight behind getting the fighting to stop. According to theatlantic.com Turkey notably also provided game-changing high-tech weapons to Azerbaijan during the war, and now has officers in an observation post. Paris and Washington, having essentially subcontracted the resolution of the conflict to Moscow, could express only relief at the end of the fighting and the resulting Russian peacekeeping force, even as Putin had elbowed them out of the process. Russia is now in the driver’s seat as never before. It has troops on the ground in all three Caucasus countries—two with the consent of the host (Armenia and Azerbaijan), and one without (Georgia). Moscow is also pushing a new multilateral mechanism for the region, called the “3+3,” which would include the Caucasus states plus three illiberal (and former imperial) powers, Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/russia-west-caucasus/620581/
3 November
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received head of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Armenia Mission Nathan Porter and IMF Resident Representative in Armenia Mehdi Raissi, the PM’s Office said. In accordance with armenpress.am the IMF Armenia Mission head stated that their organization attaches importance to the cooperation with Armenia and reaffirms its readiness to expand the collaboration. He added that the IMF will continue assisting the Armenian government’s reforms aimed at improving the monetary-credit and fiscal policy, strengthening the public-private investment system and the business climate, improving infrastructures, conducting education field strategy, raising governance transparency, developing mining industry, etc. The PM said the education reform is the basis of reforms. “We are planning to build/renovate 300 schools and 500 kindergartens in the next 5 years. Our main goal is to make high-quality education available for all children living in Armenia. In this context we also develop the remote learning system”, he said.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1067193.html?fbclid=IwAR2DQValDAQThfwoNETThp6-GRMSbsNsEjUkWb4vKipyyEj8RkAdjpTcbuU
2 November
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has phoned his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts to discuss the implementation of Russian-brokered agreements to stop fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh and open Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links, reports azatutyun.am. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the separate phone calls took place on Monday and Tuesday “in view of the upcoming anniversary” of a ceasefire agreement that stopped the six-week war over Karabakh. The ministry said Lavrov “compared notes” with Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan of Armenia and Jeyhun Bayramov of Azerbaijan with regard to easing tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and “unblocking all transport and economic links in the South Caucasus.” “Sergei Lavrov stressed the importance of continuing efforts aimed at political and diplomatic settlement of the full range of issues in relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” it said. The conversations came a week after some Russian and Armenian media outlets reported that that Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host fresh talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31541857.html
1 November
Foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed the prospects of launching regional mechanism in “3+3” format in the South Caucasus. According to mediamax.am the two ministers met in the sidelines of the G20 in Rome. “The main attention during the conversation was paid to the coordination of efforts of the two countries towards future stabilization of the situation in the Balkans and Transcaucasia. The sides exchanged views on the prospects of launching regional mechanism “3+3” to unblock the economic and transport communications and promoting the mutually beneficial infrastructure projects in the South Caucasus”, Russian Foreign Ministry's news release reads.
https://mediamax.am/en/news/region/45193
31 October
President of the Republic Armen Sarkissian left for the United Kingdom to participate in the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) to be held in Glasgow. In line with president.am the United Kingdom and Italy will co-chair the Glasgow Conference. Heads of states, climate change experts, business and civil society leaders will participate in the discussions. The conference aims to develop an agreed action plan for combating climate change. The agenda topics target to help communities prepare for the worst effects of climate change, to protect and restore natural habitats and ecosystems for the planet's biodiversity, to accelerate the transition to clean energy by promoting the use and storage of low-cost renewable sources, to clean the air by accelerating zero emissions transport use around the world, encourage and identify the developing of financial systems and create green jobs.
https://www.president.am/en/press-release/item/2021/10/31/President-Armen-Sarkissian-will-visit-Glasgow-/
30 October
The Armenian government approved on Thursday the draft state budget for next year calling for significant increases in its expenditures on infrastructure projects, social programs, defense and national security. According to azatutyun.am overall public spending is to rise by over 15 percent to almost 2.2 trillion drams ($4.5 billion) in 2022. The government at the same time pledged to cut the budget deficit through an even sharper rise in its tax revenues. “The 2022 budget is based on our three main priorities: reforming the national security system, developing infrastructures and modernizing education and science,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “We will be paying a great deal of attention to national security, without which it is impossible to achieve long-term development goals.” Government spending on defense is projected to grow by about 11 percent to 345.4 billion drams ($707 million), reflecting lingering security challenges facing Armenia after last year’s war with Azerbaijan.
https://www.azatutyun.am/a/31486302.html
Sources: armradio.am, eurasiareview.com, .theatlantic.com, armenpress.am, azatutyun.am, mediamax.am, president.am