Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia’s top news as of 19.02.2020.

• Armenian president Armen Sarkissian sign a decree to dismiss two senior army officials.

Artur Baghdasaryan, Chief of the Military Police, and Aleksan Aleksanyan, Head of the Department of Moral and Psychological Provision of the Armed Forces of Armenia, were sacked based on the proposal of Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan.

The officials are dismissed amid growing number of deaths in the army. From January 1 to February 16, a total 13 casualties were recorded in the Armed Forces of Armenia and the Defense Army of Artsakh.

• The first court hearing on the criminal case against Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan and other officials has been set for February 25.

Sargsyan, together owner of Flash company Barsegh Beglaryan, former deputy agriculture minister Samvel Galstyan, and former agriculture ministry official Gevorg Harutyunyan are charged with organizing, inciting and assisting large-scale appropriation or squander.  Ex-agriculture minister Sergo Karapetyan is charged with large-scale embezzlement.

• The Council of the European Union removed Armenia from grey list of tax havens list.

Armenia together with 15 other states was removed from the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. These countries managed to implement all the necessary reforms to comply with EU tax good governance principles ahead of the agreed deadline, EU said.

• An initiative to commemorate Armenian Genocide victims was registered in Ukrainian parliament.

The initiative was presented by a member of the Ukrainian parliament from “Servant of the People” party Daria Volodina. This is the fourth legislative initiative registered in the Verkhovna Rada in last ten years.

• China’s Ambassador to Armenia Tian Erlong handed over to President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian a letter from Xi Jinping, in which the latter thanked Armenia for the assistance in the fight against this coronavirus.

“I attach great importance to the development of Armenian-Chinese relations, and I stand ready to work with you to raise the bilateral relations to a new level for the benefit of both countries and peoples,” the Chinese president's message reads.

Chinese ambassador and Armenian president referred to the situation created by the new coronavirus and the measures being taken to prevent it.