Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 16.03.22:

• As talks between Russia and Ukraine continue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said parts of a Ukraine compromise deal are close.

FM said on Wednesday that some parts of a possible peace deal with Ukraine were close to being agreed after Kyiv said they can discuss neutrality, raising hopes of an end to the biggest war in Europe since World War Two.

Ukraine has also made cautious positive statements on peace talks. It says it is willing to negotiate to end the war, but will not surrender or ‘accept Russian ultimatums’.

In a video address in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said he believed there was possible room for compromise.

On Tuesday, the president had appeared to offer the Kremlin an olive branch by saying that Ukraine would not be joining NATO.

Meanwhile, fights are going on in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian soldier of Armenian origin, 18-year-old Davit Harutyunyan, died in Ukraine during fighting on March 1, only a few days before his 19th birthday.

He took part in a special operation in the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.

• The Turkish foreign minister has arrived in Moscow to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

Mevlut Cavusoglu posted a respective photo—on social media—from the Russian capital.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced Tuesday that Cavusoglu will pay a visit to both Russia and Ukraine as part of Ankara's peace initiatives.

Ahead of talks with Turkish FM, Cavusoglu said that Russia and Turkey's positions on Ukraine do not coincide, but Moscow appreciates Ankara's efforts to resolve the crisis.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the situation in the South Caucasus with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Blinken tweeted he thanked Azerbaijan for the support provided to Ukraine.

According to the State Department, during the conversation, Blinken emphasized the continued importance of the bilateral partnership between the US and Azerbaijan and the US commitment to promoting a peaceful, democratic and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region.

• The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has voted in favor of the conclusion calling on the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE) to see to it that Russia withdraws from the CoE,.

Accordingly, the PACE has stated that the CoE Committee of Ministers should petition to Russia with a request to withdraw from the CoE immediately.

But if Russia refuses to comply with this requirement, the PACE will apply to the aforesaid committee with a request to determine, as soon as possible, the date as of which Russia’s CoE membership will be terminated.

A total of 216 PACE lawmakers voted in favor of Russia leaving the Council of Europe, three MPs abstained, but no one voted against.

The Russian MFA earlier said that they will not remain in the Council of Europe, but will continue to comply with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), if they do not contain contradictions to the Russian Constitution.

• Baku reacted to the statement of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan about Azerbaijan's so-called proposals on the normalization of relations between the two countries.

The Armenian Foreign Minister said that the talks on a peace agreement with Azerbaijan should be held without preconditions.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan noted that taking into account the importance of normalization of relations between the two countries and peacebuilding in the region after the conflict, Azerbaijan has put forward relevant proposals and is ready to move forward in this direction.

“If Armenia is also serious about this issue, it should present its concrete proposals and thus demonstrate its willingness to start substantive and result-oriented negotiations," Azerbaijani MFA noted.

Meanwhile, Chair of the Armenian Parliament Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Eduard Aghajanyan also said that Armenia is ready to discuss any issue with Azerbaijan without preconditions.

Aghajanyan also noted that Armenia is now waiting for the response of the Minsk Group to its appeal to start peace talks with Azerbaijan

• Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has said his country is ready to establish diplomatic relations and open its border with Turkey, the Turkish state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.

Mirzoyan held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at a diplomatic forum in the Turkish city of Antalya on Saturday as part of efforts to mend ties after decades of animosity. Cavusoglu called the meeting "productive and constructive.”

Ararat Mirzoyan’s statement that Armenia is ready to develop relations with Turkey provoked heated discussions in Armenian society.

The poll conducted by Armenian News - NEWS.am showed that most of the Armenian citizens are against the Armenian-Turkish relations development as they don’t believe Turkish authorities.

Nevertheless, there are many citizens who hope that with the normalization of diplomatic relations, there will be no more enmity between the Armenian and Turkish peoples

Let us note that Saturday's talks were the first sit-down meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers since 2009.

• Thanks to negotiations being conducted with the assistance of the government of Armenia and Russian peacekeepers since March 8, the Azerbaijani side on Wednesday began repairing a damaged natural gas pipeline entering Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) from Armenia, the Artsakh Info Center said in a statement.

The statement adds, in particular, that according to the arrangement, the natural gas supply to Artsakh will be restored in a short time, and the Artsakh authorities are making every effort to make it happen as soon as possible.

Artsakh people have no gas for the ninth day in a row.

Since a natural gas pipeline in the territory currently controlled by Azerbaijan was damaged on March 8, talks are being held with the Azerbaijanis, but the latter were hindering the repair work.

Specialists were not even able to visit the territory to find out what caused the accident.

• Dollar and euro exchange rates fell sharply in Armenia.

The American dollar’s (USD) exchange rate against the Armenian dram (AMD) comprised AMD 499.04/$1 in Armenia on Wednesday; this is down by AMD 8.90 from Tuesday, according to the official website of the Central Bank of Armenia.

The exchange rate for one euro was AMD 548.89 (down by AMD 9.64)