Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 14.03.22:

Official Baku has already announced the conditions on which it agrees to "make peace" with Armenia, which includes  mutual recognition of each other's sovereignty, mutual confirmation of the absence of territorial claims of states to each other, to refrain from threatening each other's security in interstate relations, delimitation and demarcation of borders and opening of transport and communications.

Bayramov, who was in Turkey to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF), told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Azerbaijan is waiting for Armenia’s response.

However, Azerbaijan's listed demands essentially imply a veiled rejection of Nagorno-Karabakh's independence.

Armenian MFA, in turn, issued a statement Monday noting that Armenia had responded to the proposals submitted by Azerbaijan.

Yerevan has also applied to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship to organize talks on a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the basis of the UN Charter.

  • The situation in Ukraine remains highly tense during the weekend.

Air raid sirens were sounded in almost all regions of Ukraine on Saturday. The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain surrounded by Russian forces, the Ukrainian forces said.

The Ukrainian authorities added on Sunday that about 100 aerial bombs have been dropped on Mariupol. The city council of besieged Mariupol has said 2,187 residents have been killed.

More than 5,550 people have been evacuated from front-line cities on Sunday via nine humanitarian corridors, Ukraine’s deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video statement.

She added that 3,950 were evacuated from towns and cities in the Kyiv region.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, in turn, said Russian troops have destroyed 3,687 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities so far.

Nearly 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says, giving the death toll for Ukraine’s forces for the first time. Russia said on March 2 it had lost 498 soldiers. Zelenskyy, however, says it is close to 12,000.

Podoliak added that Ukraine's position in talks with Russia regarding peace, a ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of troops and security guarantees remains unchanged

The Russian and Ukrainian delegations have already met three times in Belarus. The parties discussed, among other things, the opening of humanitarian corridors.

By the way, the Kremlin said it had never denied the possibility of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but would first like to understand what will be on its agenda and what outcome is expected.

Zelenskyy, in turn, said that the main task of the Ukrainian delegation in the negotiations with Russia is to agree on a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.

  • The international community continues to support Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden authorizes $200m in additional military equipment for Ukraine. Washington has already authorized $350m of military equipment – the largest such package in US history.

Lately, however, there were reports that Israel helps Russia to avoid Western sanctions.

14 private jets that have taken off from Russia have landed at Ben Gurion Airport in the past 10 days, Channel 12 news reported Friday, as Israel continues to avoid joining Western sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

The unknown identity of the passengers, and the timing of the journeys, has prompted speculation that those on board were Russian oligarchs who have been slapped with sanctions over the assault on Ukraine, the TV report said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid assured Monday during a visit to Bratislava that Israel will not be en route to bypass sanctions imposed on Russia.

Even despite sanctions and the tense situation created worldwide, Russian natural gas company Gazprom, however, said on Monday it was continuing gas shipments via Ukraine, with volumes at 109.5 million cubic meters per day, marginally down from 109.6 million a day earlier.

In the meantime, CNN reported that Russia has asked China for military support, including UAVs, as well as economic assistance for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

According to conversations CNN had with two US officials who said that requests came after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The official declined to detail the Chinese reaction, but indicated that the Chinese had responded.

However, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that  Russia has the independent potential to continue a special military operation in Ukraine and has not requested help from China.

When asked by CNN about the reporting of Russia's request for military aid, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US, said in a statement, "I've never heard of that."

The case follows a temporary change to Meta's hate speech policy that allows some Facebook and Instagram users to express violence against Russia. Reuters first reported the policy change Thursday.

Roskonadzor, Russia's information watchdog, said Friday it will restrict access to Instagram

Meanwhile, Meta global affairs President Nick Clegg said they are now ‘narrowing the focus to make it explicitly clear in the guidance’ that it is never to be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general.’

“We also do not permit calls to assassinate a head of state...,” Clegg added.

In turn, Russian president spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that despite Meta’s news statement, it is unlikely that the platform will work in the future in Russia.

Since a natural gas pipeline in the territory currently controlled by Azerbaijan was damaged on March 8, talks are being held with the Azerbaijanis, but the latter are hindering the repair work.

Despite numerous calls for an immediate solution to this problem and the assurances of the Artsakh authorities that this issue is being resolved jointly with the Russian peacekeepers, Artsakh people have no gas supplies yet.

The matter of restoring the natural gas supply in Artsakh is under negotiation, Lusine Avanesyan, spokeswoman for the Artsakh President, told NEWS.am.

Avanesyan informed that the Artsakh residents currently provide heating for themselves with the use of electricity and wood—the latter mainly refers to villages.

Meanwhile, Toivo Klaar—the European Union (EU) Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia—, who is currently in Armenia’s capital Yerevan, told the RFE/RL Armenian Service that he has been discussing with both Armenia and Azerbaijan the matters of the recent ceasefire violations and of the natural gas pipeline.

Klaar noted that in recent days he has had several conversations with representatives of both Yerevan and Baku on these issues.

His inauguration ceremony took place at a special session of the Armenian parliament boycotted by its two opposition factions.

In his inaugural speech, Khachaturyan acknowledged that he was assuming office at a pivotal time for Armenia amid “complicated regional and international challenges.”

“We are witnessing rapidly changing geopolitical developments as a result of which current global security systems are being transformed. Today, more than ever, we need wisdom, confidence, stability and unity,” he said.

Khachaturyan was elected by parliament on March 3 for seven years as the fifth president in the country's history.

The 62-year-old politician, who previously served as the minister of high technology, was nominated by the ruling Civil Contract party.

Former president Armen Sarkissian resigned on January 23, citing lack of constitution

Sarkissian said he did not have the necessary power to deal with the country's political issues.