Armenian, Russian, Azerbaijani Deputy PMs to meet in February, Armenia PM to visit Kazakhstan, 04.02.21 digest

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related and global news as of 04.02.2021:

• The second meeting of Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Russian Deputy PMs will take place in February.

The meeting will be devoted to de-blockage of transport communication.

The first meeting took place on January 30 in Moscow. After the meeting, two expert sub-groups were set up.

• Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will pay a working visit to Kazakhstan on Thursday and Friday.

In Almaty, Kazakhstan, the PM will attend the regular meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and the international Almaty Digital Forum 2021.

Bilateral meetings are also planned.

• The Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) rescue squads will not carry out search operations on Thursday amid works carried out by Azerbaijan in the settlements now under its control.

A total of 1,355 dead bodies have been found so far during these search operations since November 13. According to preliminary data, 15 of them are of civilians.

• The ARF Dashnaktsutyun youth were holding protests Thursday near the Armenian government's building.

The protesters were chanting "Nikol is a traitor", "A traitor must leave!", "Nikol, go away!"

• Jalal Harutyunyan, the Artsakh former defense minister and Defense Army ex-commander, has been appointed Head of the Military Oversight Service of the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia.

The aforesaid position was held by Movses Hakobyan, who had submitted his resignation from this post on November 18, 2020.

• The Armenian Tourism Committee chief has been sacked.

By the decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Susanna Safaryan has been relieved of her duties as Chairperson of the Tourism Committee of Armenia.

• Armenian third president Serzh Sargsyan met with Russian envoy to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin on the initiative of the Russian side.

The sides discussed issues on to the consequences of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

President Sargsyan thanked the Russian side for the consistent efforts of the Russian leadership to maintain the ceasefire regime, resolve the humanitarian issues of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. They highlighted the importance of continuing the activities of Russia as a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group for the final peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, including the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination.

Ambassador Kopyrkin, in turn, presented the position of Russia and its efforts within the discussed topics.