Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 17.03.22:

  • The situation in Ukraine remains highly tense.

Authorities in Ukraine have accused Russian forces of bombing a theatre as well as a pool facility in the besieged city of Mariupol where hundreds of civilians, including pregnant women and children, have been sheltering.

Satellite images of the theater, shared by private satellite company Maxar, showed the words “children” clearly etched out in the ground in Russian on either side of the building.

The Russian defense ministry, however, denied attacking the building and accused the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia, of blowing it up, according to the RIA news agency. It provided no evidence to support the allegation.

Meanwhile,  the Kremlin said that a neutral Ukraine along the lines of Sweden or Austria could be a possible compromise to end three weeks of onslaught in the east European nations.

His comments came after FM Sergei Lavrov also said neutrality was taking center stage at the talks.

According to international law, neutrality refers to an obligation of a state to not interfere in military conflicts of other states. This includes avoiding entering into military alliances such as NATO or Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

  • Two soldiers have already been found dead in Armenia in a series of deaths confirmed in combat positions and military units.

One of the Armenian soldiers was found dead with a gunshot wound to the jaw Wednesday in a combat position located in the southeastern direction of the country.

Criminal case has been opened on the death under the article on causing to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Private Eduard Rustamyan was found dead in a military unit located in the southern part of Armenia—and with a gunshot wound as well.

An investigation is underway to fully find out the circumstances of these incidents.

  • The international community is concerned with the situation in the South Caucasus and in some parts of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border as well as with the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh].

For over 1,5 week for now there is no natural gas supplies in Karabakh after the accident happened on March 8. Since then Azerbaijan did not let Armenians visit the scene and start repair works. Although Azerbaijanis should have started the repair works, the pipeline has not been repaired as of Thursday noon and the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh has been without gas supplies for a week.

In the meantime, reports of ceasefire violations have multiplied since early March, along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact, as well as on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, including reports of Azerbaijan’s high-caliber mortar shelling of several Nagorno-Karabakh villages. Over the past weeks, Azerbaijani army loudspeakers directed at these villages have been calling on the local Armenian population to leave the area, intensifying the psychological pressure and threatening the use of force

“We are concerned with the situation in the region and in some parts of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,” said Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

She also spoke about preparing a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“We welcome the readiness of Baku and Yerevan to start preparing a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” she noted

Meanwhile, MEP Marina Kaljurand said she is concerned about the humanitarian situation in Karabakh.

“I am increasingly worried about the plight of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)], at the brink of a humanitarian crisis, just as the world’s attention is focused on the aggression of Russia against Ukraine,” she, in turn, said.

  • The Armenian authorities’ statements that they are ready to negotiate peace talks with Azerbaijan and develop relations with Turkey provoked discussions.

Protests were held Thursday in Yerevan near the MFA and government buildings as the demonstrators said that “the de facto authorities of Armenia continue the actions serving solely the interests of the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem.”

“We are here to raise our voice against the authorities serving pro-Turkish, Turkish-Azerbaijani interests,” one of the protesters told reporters.

The demonstrators said that Armenian FM does not represent the real interests of the Armenian people.

  • Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The sides discussed the situation around Nagorno Karabakh.

The Armenian and Russian leaders exchanged views on the Armenian-Turkish dialogue, the latest regional developments, and the situation in Ukraine.

Earlier, the Russian president has officially invited the Armenian PM to pay an official visit to Moscow in spring. The Armenian PM, in turn, invited Vladimir Putin to Armenia.

  • Handelsbanken, a Swedish bank, will suspend financial transactions with Georgia and Armenia as of March 21, according to Georgia’s Business Formula portal. And the reason for this decision is the Ukrainian crisis.

The bank has confirmed that it will restrict the possibility of accounts with Georgia and Armenia, as the bank sees a high risk of transit transfers from these two countries to those under sanctions.

According to Handelsbanken, this measure, however, will affect only a small number of people, most of whom are corporate clients.