Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 15.03.21:

  • Amid the ongoing internal political crisis in Armenia, President Armen Sarkissian has initiated discussions with PM Nikol Pashinyan, and ruling and opposition party representatives.

On Saturday, Pashinyan met with Sarkissian. Pashinyan and Sarkissian discussed the situation in the country, ways of solving the crisis and overcoming the internal political crisis. The option of holding early parliamentary elections was considered a solution.

Sarkissian also met the leader of the parliamentary faction of the ruling My Step bloc Lilit Makunts and the leader of the opposition parliamentary faction of the Bright Armenia party, Edmon Marukyan.

Meanwhile, Prosperous Armenia party leader Gagik Tsarukyan, noted that he holds discussions with 3 ex-presidents of Armenia to get out of the current situation. Touching upon the holding of snap parliamentary elections and asked if he has behind-the-scenes meetings with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Tsarukyan said that media would know about his meeting with the PM.

  • The Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Defense Army has reported that 96 more servicemen, reservists, and volunteers had fallen during the recent battles for the defense of the homeland.

According to the official data published by the Artsakh Defense Army, the number of such casualties from the Armenian side has now reached 2,432.

Meanwhile, search operations for the bodies of fallen servicemen in the territories now outside the jurisdiction of Artsakh have been suspended Monday due to unfavorable weather conditions.

The total number of dead bodies retrieved ever since the ceasefire in November last year is 1,499, of which 23, according to preliminary data, are civilians.

One of the provisions concerned the exchange of prisoners of war under the “all for all” principle, and another stated that “the sides stand in the positions that they held”.

However, as the Azerbaijani MFA noted the Armenians in captivity 'were sent to Azerbaijan after the signing of the truce and contrary to the statement of November 10 which implies the dislocation of Armenian troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.'

Just a few days ago, the Azerbaijani authorities returned two women. According to the current information, a few more women are in captivity, and several prisoners were in captivity before November 10.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan is doing its best to distort the truth and trying to change the status of the captives, presenting them as “terrorists” and holding a “leverage” for pressure on the Armenian side.

Prior to that, Arakelyan was serving his sentence in the prison in Murmansk, Russia, where, according to his lawyer, his life could have been at risk because the Azerbaijanis could have taken revenge upon him.

Arman Arakelyan, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for killing an Azerbaijani in Russia, was already serving six years in aforesaid prison. He had killed the said Azerbaijani when the latter had cursed—in Arakelyan's café—at the Armenians and broken the pictures of Armenian heroes.

A meeting between Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian and Linde will take place Tuesday at the Foreign Ministry.

Accordingly, Father Mkhitar Grigoryan was jointly called to serve in the Diocese of Artsakh of the Armenian Apostolic Church as the abbot of Dadivank Monastery.

  • As of Monday morning, 317 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 178,702 in the country.

Also, ten more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 3,265 cases.

The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 205, the total respective number so far is 166,410, and the number of people currently being treated is 8,190—which is an increase by 77 in one day.

  • Armenian national team captain and Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan underwent a medical examination after suffering an injury in the first leg of Roma’s Europa League clash against Shakhtar.

He has sustained a muscle injury in his right calf and will be out of action for at least 2-3 weeks, ANSA reports.

Mkhitaryan will not be able to join the Armenian national squad this month, which will play three matches in the World Cup qualifiers.