Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of top news as of 01.02.22:

  • National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan has signed the record on considering Armen Sarkissian’s powers as the President of Armenia terminated.

As a result, Simonyan has temporarily assumed the powers of the President of Armenia.

On January 23, Armen Sarkissian had announced his resignation as President.

It has become known that the parliamentary faction of the ruling Civil Contract Party will—in all probability—nominate high-tech industry minister Vahagn Khachaturyan for the post of President of Armenia.

  • The Investigative Committee of Armenia has completed the investigation of the criminal case on violating the rules of combat duty on November 16, 2021, at a military outpost of a defense zone which was handed over to the protection of a military unit.

Accordingly, the investigation revealed that the Azerbaijani armed forces had invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia on the aforesaid date, the said Armenian combat position had come under their control, 13 of the 21 servicemen of this combat position had been captured by the adversary, the dead bodies of two of them—Taron Sahakyan and Arsen Gasparyan—had been transferred to the Armenian side on November 17 and 19, 2021, respectively. Eight of the captured Armenian servicemen were later returned to the Armenian side, whereas three others are still being held in Azerbaijan.

Major G.G., Major N.Y., and Private S.M. are charged with a felony and remanded in custody.

On January 27, this criminal case—along with an indictment—was sent to court.

As of Tuesday morning, 3,127 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 370,922 in the country.

Meanwhile, the situation is tense in neighboring Georgia as well. The number of people infected with coronavirus in Georgia increased by 24,201 per day, while over 30 people have died. The Georgian PM tested positive as well.

  • Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II on Tuesday headed for the United States on a patriarchal visit, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In the US, Karekin II will meet with philanthropists to discuss programs being implemented by the Mother See.

  • In an exclusive interview, Armenian ex-president Serzh Sargsyan discussed several issues, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Armenian current PM Nikol Pashinyan's policy.

According to him, 'first and foremost, there could not be any document that would fully be only in the interests of Armenia. It would be in Armenia’s interest if the territories in the entire security zone, and maybe even more, were reunited with Armenia. Am I right? These [issues] cannot be formulated in that manner.'

He also referred to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statements that the issue of Nagorno Karabakh was delegated to the UN Security Council after the April War while recalling the UNSC resolutions of 1993 and also speaking about the possibility of the UNSC to adopt or not to adopt a document.

  • Rihanna stopped hiding what many had already guessed - she is pregnant. The father, of course, is her longtime boyfriend and popular rapper A$AP Rocky.

On the singer's Instagram still no hint but everything is clear: Western media now with the speed of Elon Musk's rocket publish photos of the couple taken in New York. On them, Rihanna is captured with a bare and already round belly. To make the gesture even more spectacular helped a pink Chanel coat, buttoned only one top button. See the photo here.

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have been together since 2020. The two prefer not to talk much about their personal lives.

  • Russian and French Presidents Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron again discussed Ukraine, the Kremlin press service reported.

The sides continued to exchange views on the situation around Ukraine and issues related to the provision of long-term, legally fixed security guarantees to the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin once again outlined in detail the principal approaches to these problems.

It was agreed on further contacts by phone and also on the possibility of holding a personal meeting between the presidents of Russia and France.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he welcomed the diplomatic and military support provided to his country in recent weeks amid warnings of a Russian invasion.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki are expected in Kyiv on Tuesday.

They are to be followed later in the week by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.