Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 31.03.22:
The meeting will be held with the participation of the President of the European Council Charles Michel, the website of the European Council reported.
Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan hopes to discuss all matters of peace agreement at the Brussels meeting with the Azerbaijani president.
He noted that “Armenia is ready for the immediate start of peace talks.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in turn, said he hopes that the upcoming meeting with Pashinyan will be productive.
According to him, it’s a good sign that the Armenian side declares it accepts Baku's proposals.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Karabakh with the Armenian PM and Azerbaijani President, the Kremlin press service reported.
The development of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed, with an emphasis on solving practical problems to ensure security and stability in the region.
- Charges have been brought against the Minister of Emergency Situations of Armenia, and a motion to arrest him has been submitted to the court, announced the Anti-Corruption Committee.
The respective statement said that the investigation into a criminal case revealed facts of bribery, aiding and abetting to it, abuse of office, embezzlement, as well as getting and giving illegal payment, and other abuses by some officials of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan, his adviser, as well as more than 10 employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are included in this criminal case.
Piloyan was charged and detained on Wednesday. On the same day, a motion was submitted to the court to remand him in custody.
Another 8 people have been charged, and it was decided to remand five of them in custody.
Another 10 employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are suspects along the lines of this criminal case, and a signature bond not to leave Armenia has been selected as their pretrial measure.
The criminal investigation continues.
- From Wednesday night to 10am Thursday, the operative-tactical situation along the entire frontline of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) did not change, remaining tense, the Artsakh Information Center reported.
The Artsakh authorities continue to exert all efforts to withdraw the Azerbaijani armed forces from the eastern direction of the line of contact to their original positions.
During Thursday's government meeting, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said that Azerbaijan is attempting to form legitimacy for large-scale attacks on Karabakh and Armenia.
According to a Security Council statement, Azerbaijan intends to launch new provocations and attack in the direction of Nagorno-Karabakh.
However, the PM noted that there is a high probability of such developments on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border as well.
The PM also added that Azerbaijan claimed that the tripartite statement of November 9 allegedly recorded an obligation to withdraw the Defense Army from Nagorno-Karabakh.
However, Pashinyan explained that the statement clearly states where the military units should leave from and where they should stay.
Nikol Pashinyan also noted that the parallels between Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan are strange for several reasons: Nakhichevan has a land connection with Azerbaijan through Iran and Turkey and an air connection through Iran, Turkey and Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh has only one land connection with Armenia – through Lachin corridor, and turning it into a territory controlled by Azerbaijan in any way means eviction of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey will not take any steps on crucial issues in the talks with Armenia without the consent of Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijan has proposed a comprehensive peace agreement to Armenia, which Armenia must accept. There are political contacts with Armenia, the first meeting was positive," said Cavusoglu.
“Tigran Avinyan will already head our electoral list in the next elections,” said MP Vahagn Aleksanyan.
Yerevan Council of Elders elections will be held next year.
- Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Kazakhstan signed a quadripartite declaration on the Trans-Caspian East-West corridor, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia said.
The declaration highlights the role of the development of transport corridors and increase of transit potential, integration of "Trans-Caspian East-West Corridor" into the international transport system and strengthening of cooperation of the parties.
"The document also notes the important role of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line in the development of competitive transport between Europe and Asia, and emphasizes the importance of completing construction work to improve the capacity of the railway line. The declaration also underscored the significant need for infrastructure investments to improve the quality of transport operations along this route," the ministry said.
- The Russian defense ministry announced a local ceasefire Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated from Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol.
A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, opened from 10am (07:00 GMT), the ministry said Wednesday.
A convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for the southern port city of Mariupol on Thursday to try to reach trapped civilians, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
She said the International Committee of the Red Cross had confirmed that Russia had agreed to open a humanitarian corridor to the besieged city where tens of thousands of civilians remain after weeks of Russian bombardment.
The city mayor said this week that up to 170,000 residents were trapped in Mariupol with no power and dwindling supplies.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address to the nation on Wednesday, said Ukraine is at a “turning point” in the five-week war with Russia and again urged Western nations to send more weapons.
In his address, Zelenskyy referred to Russian troop movements away from Kyiv and Chernihiv, saying that was not a withdrawal but “the consequence of our defenders’ work”.
Ukraine is seeing “a build-up of Russian forces for new attacks on the Donbas and we are preparing for that”, he said.
Zelenskyy told Australia's parliament on Thursday that Russia must be held accountable for past wrongs, warning that a failure to punish Moscow may encourage other countries to wage war against their neighbors.
He called for new and tougher sanctions to retaliate against Russia's invasion of Ukraine and suggested that years of failure to rein in the global power had emboldened Moscow.
- Russia and Ukraine will resume their peace talks online on April 1, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday after the latest round of negotiations had ended in Turkey.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said in an online post that Ukraine had proposed the countries' two leaders should meet, but Russia responded by saying more work needed to be done on a draft treaty.
A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be preceded by the finalization of the text of the agreement between the two countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
A spokesman for the head of state noted that there is no clear time frame for a possible meeting of the presidents.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he wants to hold talks with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to discuss the organization of their possible meeting.
- The breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia will seek to join Russia, potentially leading to a new escalation in the Kremlin’s conflict with the West.
The self-declared republic of about 50,000 will start the legal process to become part of Russia, South Ossetia’s President Anatoly Bibilov said in a statement posted on the website of Russia’s ruling party.
United Russia Senator Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee of the Federation Council, told state-run Tass news service that Russia is ready to absorb the territory as long as the people of South Ossetia pass a referendum supporting the move.
