Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 22.02.22:

The president made the announcement live on TV after an emotional address in which he referred to eastern Ukraine as “ancient Russian lands managed by foreign powers”.

Announcing his recognition, Putin also signed treaties on friendship, cooperation and mutual aid with Donetsk and Luhansk leaders. The Federation Council has already ratified the treaty.

The Russian leader also took a swipe as Western powers which support Ukraine, saying, “they are not interested in peaceful solutions – they want to start a blitzkrieg”.

Putin also accused Ukraine of “extreme nationalism,” and “Russophobia.”

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in turn, convened a Security Meeting on Monday and today noted that the issue of breaking diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Russia will be considered soon.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Berlin on Tuesday that commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is on hold since the situation is extremely tense now.

  • The international community reacted to the Russian president’s decision to recognize the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine as independent republics.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of continuing to fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine and “trying to stage a pretext” for an invasion. 

The EU has also slammed the recognition noting that the EU and its partners will respond to this with unity, firmness and determination in solidarity with Ukraine.

The UN, in turn, noted that this decision is fraught with regional and international consequences. This came as the OSCE said that the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of the regions contradicts the Minsk agreements.

Meanwhile, the UK PM Boris Johnson noted that Putin's decision to recognize Ukraine's separatist states is a bad omen, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the decision unacceptable.

And Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] FM David Babayan, in turn, lauded the recognition of the independence of the regions.

“The Artsakh Republic also has all the grounds for the recognition of its independent statehood. These are historical, legal, ethical, and ethical-academic bases,” he added.

The meeting was also attended by the Acting President of the country Alen Simonyan.

Issues related to overcoming the challenges facing Armenia and the processes taking place in the international arena were discussed at the meeting.

Before the talks there were reports that Russia intends to officially raise relations with Azerbaijan to alliance level.

The sides touched upon the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Putin noted that there are already certain agreements on the development of trade and economic ties.

“There are disputes, but we will do everything to ensure that the process proceeds peacefully,” Putin noted.

Putin noted that certain agreements have been reached on the development of trade and economic relations in Nagorno-Karabakh.

He said that there are also disputes, but Moscow will do everything possible for the settlement process to proceed peacefully.

Aliyev, in turn, noted that Russia played a very important role in ending the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Kremlin Monday’s statement said that following the talks, a declaration on allied cooperation would be signed, taking relations between Russia and Azerbaijan to the allied level.

Russian president Vladimir Putin also had a phone talk Monday with the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan.

The sides exchanged views on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Russian president has officially invited the Armenian PM to pay an official visit to Moscow in the spring. The Armenian PM, in turn, invited Vladimir Putin to Armenia.

Maria Karapetyan, a member of the ruling majority Civil Contract, chaired the meeting.

One of the topics of today's discussion was an increase of Russia's military presence on the Ukrainian border.

Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine did not participate in the meeting.

However, two Azerbaijani MPs also attended the sessions in Yerevan. They were the only MPs who had entered the building with the security officers. One of them, Soltan Mammadov, seems to have a provocative behavior as his Twitter thumbnail reads: Karabakh is Azerbaijan.

And during the sitting, the MP noted that "the Karabakh conflict has been resolved within the international law and Azerbaijan's internationally recognized borders."

By the way, protests were being held since Monday in Yerevan since Azerbaijani MPs had come to Armenia.

The demonstrators expressed their protest and indignation at the representatives of the European delegations for not reacting to Azerbaijan's Armenophobic actions.

Meanwhile, Maria Karapetyan, noted that as part of the discussions, the issue of the return of Armenian prisoners of war was raised at the sitting.

The BA.2 is more contagious than the previous subvariant, and according to a number of studies, it may have a more severe course of the COVID-19.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Armenia has reached 416,510 and the death toll is 1,593.

According to the National Center for Disease Control, most patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and admitted to intensive care units have not been vaccinated.

About 47.8% of the Armenian population has received the first dose of vaccine.

Vaccines approved for use in Armenia included Sputnik, AstraZeneca, CoronaVac and Pfizer.