Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 07.06.21:

•             The campaign for snap parliamentary elections has officially kicked off in Armenia Monday, and it will continue until June 18.

The snap parliamentary elections will be held on June 20. However, online voting will start at 8 am on Friday and will continue until 8 pm on Sunday.

A total of 22 political parties and 4 blocs are running in the elections.

MP candidates, parties, blocs, or bloc member parties can submit their applications for withdrawal by 6 pm on Thursday.

•             On Monday morning, the Azerbaijani armed forces once again tried to carry out engineering works at the border section of Verin Shorzha village of Gegharkunik Province at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

The Armenian army divisions carried out countermeasures demanding the immediate cessation of these works and the removal of the engineering equipment. These works were stopped and the equipment was removed to the Azerbaijani part of the border.

•             The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia has exposed a case of high treason committed by an organized group.

A former Armenian soldier—who was awarded medals, badges, honor certificates, and government awards—had gone to Turkey with another person who is friends with him under the pretext of looking for a job, but appeared there in the sight of Azerbaijani special services. He accepted their offer to be recruited by them in exchange for receiving material benefits to the detriment of Armenia's territorial integrity and external security.

These men then left Turkey for another country to meet with senior Azerbaijani special services officials to document the aforesaid verbal agreement and receive specific instructions. At the Azerbaijani embassy in this third country, the persons signed recruitment agreements. They received respective code names and prepayments from Azerbaijani special services.

Two members of this organized group have been included as defendants in the criminal case into the above-mentioned criminal acts, testified, and were remanded in custody.

•             Armenia and Georgia are restoring railway communication, which had been interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the first train will transport passengers from Yerevan to Batumi on June 15.

The first train will depart from Yerevan to Batumi through Tbilisi.

•             32 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 223,212.

Also, five more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 4,463 cases.

The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 141, the total respective number so far is 214,504.