NEWS.am digest: Armenia’s stance on Donetsk, Luhansk independence; Putin, Aliyev sign declaration

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 23.02.22:

• The Azerbaijani MPs have used their visit to the Blue Mosque in Yerevan to conduct a demarche against Iran.

Two Azerbaijani lawmakers, receiving security guarantees from the Armenian authorities, were able to attend the Euronest sessions in the Armenian capital Yerevan. But they have turned this peace-making move by the Armenian side into evil.

MP Tahir Mirkishili, tweeted about their visit to the Blue Mosque in Yerevan noting that this is “the only Azerbaijani monument preserved in Yerevan.”

To note, the Blue Mosque is Iranian. But Azerbaijan frequently tries to "appropriate" it — among other things, to substantiate its territorial claims to Armenia.

Some political experts in Armenia noted that amid the recent bloody Nagorno-Karabakh war and the tense situation created, Azerbaijani MPs should not be allowed to visit Armenia.

Protests have been held since the first day they came. Armenian youth protested yesterday in front of the Marriott Hotel, where all the Euronest session participants have been staying. The protesters, including the young women and a journalist have been forcibly apprehended at night. Armenian human rights chief Arman Tatoyan visited them.

During his last conference before resignation, Tatoyan noted that those apprehended said that force was used against them.

• As Russian president Vladimir Putin has recognized Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Easter Ukraine as independent, Armenian society was wondering over Armenian stance on the situation.

On Tuesday, Armenian MFA refers to Armenia’s position on the ongoing developments in Russian-Ukrainian relations.

The MFA spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan noted that Armenia wants the existing problems between the two friendly states to be resolved through “diplomatic dialogue” and “negotiations” based on the UN Charter.

However, when asked if he found the recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic by Armenia probable, Vahan Hunanyan noted that there is no such issue on the agenda.

The opposition has already said that Armenia should not recognize the independence of separatist republics, as long as Russia doesn’t officially recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent republic. Meanwhile, the authorities mostly declined to comment on their stance.

• The Turkish president spoke about the process of normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted that they ‘are satisfied with Armenia's manifested will’ in the process of normalization of these relations.

According to him, the processes of normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan and Armenia-Turkey relations are moving forward by assisting each other.

• Armenian human rights chief Arman Tatoyan had his last press conference before resignation.

Tatoyan touched upon the important issue of Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan.

According to him, “Azerbaijan keeps the Armenian captives for political bargaining”

“The conflict is not over. This is important in order to record that they are captives,” he noted.

“Azerbaijani authorities are obligated to release all Armenian captives,” he added.

• Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev signed Tuesday a Declaration on allied cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan.

The leaders met Tuesday in Moscow and held nearly 4-hour talks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after the talks that it is important to fully reach all agreements on the Karabakh settlement plan.

Aliyev, in turn, noted that the withdrawal of all Armenian troops from Karabakh and the opening of communications are ‘a legal obligation of Armenia.’

By the way, before Tuesday’s talks, the Kremlin reported that Russia intends to officially raise relations with Azerbaijan to alliance level.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva this week, CNN reported.

His announcement comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine as independent and announced he would deploy "peacekeeping" forces there.

"Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy," Blinken noted.

The State Border Service of Ukraine has already imposed additional security restrictions in border regions.

And the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is extremely tense. Donetsk authorities have already reported terrorist attacks.

• The COVID-19 restrictions loosen all over the world.

The most pronounced pullbacks in restrictions are in Europe, for many months the world’s epicenter of the pandemic, as well as in South Africa — where omicron was first announced publicly — and the United States. In Britain and the U.S., as in South Africa before them, COVID-19 cases skyrocketed at first but are now coming down rapidly.

The  World Health Organization this week said some countries can now consider carefully relaxing the rules if they have high immunity rates, their health care systems are strong and the epidemiological trends are going in the right direction.

Armenia is considering lifting the COVID-19 requirements in Armenia amid ‘some stabilization of the situation’ as well.

However, the head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, on Tuesday noted that although the number of new cases registered in Armenia has decreased in recent weeks, the epidemic situation remains tense.

Armenia confirms almost 1,000 COVID-19 cases a day, while the total number has exceeded 410,000 and the death toll has reached 8,378.