Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 16.02.22:

  • The situation in Ukraine remains tense.

Leaders all over the world are now discussing the solutions to prevent the war over fears that Russia will attack Ukraine.

And Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his desire to hold phone talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and propose the idea of holding a trilateral meeting between the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey.

He added that the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed a positive attitude towards the trilateral meeting.

Meanwhile, NATO has accused Russia of sending more troops for a massive military buildup around Ukraine.

"What we see is that they have increased the number of troops and more troops are on their way," he added.

The Ukrainian president also noted that there is no withdrawal of Russian troops near Ukrainian borders.

Zelenskyy noted that "all normal people are waiting for de-escalation.

The Duma on Tuesday voted for a draft resolution of the Communist Party proposing to address the Russian president on the need to recognize the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.

According to Putin, it is clear that in Russia the overwhelming majority of people sympathize and support the residents of Donbas and hope that the situation there will radically change for their benefit.

Speaking about the partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the military exercise areas, he said that the executive authorities, including the military and political leadership of the country, have nothing to comment on, the decision has already been made.

Earlier, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that after the end of the maneuvers, the troops will return to their permanent bases. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has also reported to Putin that part of the exercises is approaching their completion, some will be completed in the near future.

They forced out at gunpoint the farmers doing agricultural work in the vineyards of Khramort village on Wednesday, Zorik Abrahamyan, the head of Khramort village of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), told NEWS.am.

According to him, Russian peacekeepers were also present at that moment.

It's not the first such incident. While another village resident was plowing with a tractor on Tuesday, one of the latter’s tires was damaged by the shots fired at him from the Azerbaijani combat position.

"But the Azerbaijani side is pushing its policy again to create a climate of fear and despair in Artsakh," Artsakh Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan noted.

This person had committed an administrative offense in Russia. A Russian court had ruled that this individual should be held administratively liable and be deported from Russia.

But in the introductory part of this decision, the court had erroneously stated that this person was an Azerbaijani citizen, in which case there was a risk of deportation to Azerbaijan.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia took measures to stop this deportation process. And this matter was presented to the Russian court.

As a result, this court changed the inaccuracy in this decision, and the person was returned to Armenia.

Most of these asylum seekers - 118 persons - are Iranian citizens. Of these 118, 42 were denied asylum while 35 had their applications suspended or dropped. Forty Iranians were granted refugee status, and three others had their refugee status revoked.

A total of 52 Iraqi citizens applied for asylum in Armenia in 2021.

Furthermore, 20 of the 27 Syrian citizens who applied for asylum in Armenia were granted refugee status.

Six citizens of Turkey are also among the asylum seekers. Of these applications, 1 was denied, 1 was suspended, and only 3 were granted refugee status in Armenia in 2021.

Two Azerbaijani nationals were denied asylum in Armenia, and another such application was suspended last year.

This came following a scandalous initiative of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture to destroy and appropriate Armenian historical and cultural heritage in the occupied territories of Artsakh.

"International community should act now. We need to condemn and halt any attempt of distortion and destruction of Armenian historical-cultural heritage in Artsakh by Azerbaijan," a Cypriot MEP Demetris Papadakis wrote on Twitter.

Dutch MP Peter van Dalen tweeted that Aliyev's crimes have no limits and that the European Parliament, François Alphonse, and Sylvie Guillaume, should condemn the cultural genocide.

Meanwhile, a protest was held in front of the UN office in Yerevan demanding the preservation of Armenian heritage in Artsakh.

The protesters had pictures and posters of Armenian cultural heritage monuments which bore texts like "Don't let Azerbaijanis destroy and distort history" and "You are responsible for the cultural genocide in Artsakh and Nakhichevan".

The country’s index of economic freedom has decreased by 6.6 points.

Progress has been registered in Armenia in financial freedom, whereas the lowest points were given to the efficiency of the country’s judicial system.

In the general table, Armenia is between Italy and Serbia. The leader of Armenia’s region is neighboring Georgia, which is on the list of “mostly free” countries.

Azerbaijan is 75th, and in the same group as Armenia. Turkey and Russia, which rank 107th and 113th, respectively, are among the list of “mostly unfree” countries.

The soldier's health condition is assessed as serious but stable.

The current operational and tactical situation in this section of the borderline of contact is stable.

The patient was diagnosed with leukemia four years after her HIV infection was diagnosed. Doctors in New York City transplanted stem cells from a relative with a rare genetic mutation that prevents the virus from multiplying. She also received a cord blood transfusion from a newborn baby.

After treatment, the woman has not received antiretroviral therapy since October 2020, as she has had no signs of HIV infection since then.

There are only sporadic cases of HIV cure registered in the world. But some specialists believe that there are actually more cases of spontaneous cure than it seems.

  • A lot of the action happened in Beijing — and here's what you need to know.

Norway won five medals in one day (three gold, two silver), bringing the total so far to 26, maintaining the top spot on the medal count

So far, Germany has won gold in all the sliding events: four in luge, two in the skeleton, and one in two-man bobsled.

Meanwhile, Estonia won its first medal of these Games, bronze in freestyle skiing women’s slopestyle thanks to Kelly Sildaru.

And host nation China won its 11th and 12th medals of these Games – 12 is the most they have won at any Winter Games. With a sixth gold medal, thanks to Su Yiming in snowboarding men’s big air, China improved on its previous best of five gold medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.