Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 20.04.22:

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin released a joint statement following their meeting on Tuesday in Moscow noting that they agreed to deepen interstate relations.

Touching upon the Artsakh issue, the sides “noted the decisive contribution of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to the provision of security of Nagorno Karabakh and creation of favorable and safe living conditions for the population.”

The sides highlighted the importance of using the potential and experience of the institute of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, in accordance with its international mandate.

Putin said Russia is ready to help rebuild railways in Armenia.

The two agreed to hold joint events in their countries to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

In this context, it was agreed to hold events marking Days of Armenian Culture in Russia and the Days of Russian Spiritual Culture in Armenia, and to lay the foundation of an Armenian-Russian friendship monument in Yerevan.

Pashinyan and Putin welcomed the extension of the term of operation of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (Metzamor) and expressed their intention to work on the construction of new power units.

Within the framework of the official visit of Nikol Pashinyan to Russia, six documents were signed between the two countries Tuesday.

And on Wednesday, Pashinyan met with Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin, State Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin as well as Russian Federation Council chairperson Valentina Matviyenko.

During the meeting, the Armenian leader noted that Armenia and Russia should collaborate very closely within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS and calls for more active use of national currencies in Russia-Armenia trade.

The Russian peacekeeping contingent in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) neutralized an artillery position in the area of Chartar village during its engineering works Tuesday.

It is stated that two cannon and 60 shells were destroyed in that position.

The Russian peacekeeping forces have been deployed in Artsakh in accordance with a trilateral statement signed by the leaders of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020.

On the eve of the visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Moscow, the internal political situation in the country escalated. On April 17, the leader of the opposition parliamentary faction “I have the honor” Artur Vanetsyan began a sit-in strike in the “Freedom” square in Yerevan. Another opposition force of the National Assembly, the “Armenia” faction did not join this initiative, but announced that it had developed “its own program” to overthrow the current authorities.

Artur Vanetsyan, the leader of the “I Have the Honor” opposition faction and the leader of the “Motherland” party, announced that he was starting a sit-in during a live broadcast on his Facebook page. He stated that he “is not going to go home” because “a critical moment has come” when neither articles, nor posts on social media or speeches achieve anything.

At the same time, in the same square where Vanetsyan’s action is taking place, two young people who took part in the 2020 Karabakh war went on an indefinite hunger strike. They say that their goal is to protect Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, and for this they intend to “wake up the youth from a deep sleep”.

Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev received Tuesday the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia, Toivo Klaar.

During the meeting, Aliyev noted that Baku has high hopes for Brussels in normalizing relations with Yerevan.

Aliyev noted that he considers the last trilateral meeting (Aliyev-Pashinyan-Michel) in Brussels on April 6 as a "starting point" for the development of the negotiation process.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani leader has accused Armenia of delaying the process of opening regional communications.

Aliev said he told European Union President Charles Michel about the railway that they have already built 60-kilometer part of 100 kilometers in the Azerbaijani territory and will complete the construction next year.

"Unfortunately, they have not even started technical and economic argumentation of this work in Armenia and this shows that the process may be delayed,” he noted.

Aslin and Shaun Pinner, another British fighter captured in Ukraine by Russian forces, appeared in footage aired on Russian state television on Monday and called for PM Boris Johnson to help orchestrate their release in exchange for the freeing of pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk by Kyiv.

Boris Johnson, in turn, has urged Russia to treat a British fighter “humanely and compassionately”, adding that he had served in the Ukrainian army for some time and was not a mercenary.

The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) says that more than five million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion.

More than half of those who have left, about 2.8 million, fled to Poland.

An estimated seven million people have also been displaced within Ukraine amid Moscow’s offensive.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a step closer to being extradited to the United States following an order by a United Kingdom court.

With Assange supporters gathered outside, the Westminster Magistrates’ court in London formally issued an order on Wednesday to extradite the Australian to the US to face spying charges for publishing a trove of classified information more than 10 years ago.

The order will now go to UK’s Home Secretary Priti Patel, who will decide whether to approve the extradition.