Armenian News - NEWS-am presents the daily digest of related top news as of 05.04.22:

• The rally was initiated by opposition parliamentary blocs "Armenia" and "I Have Honour" in Freedom Square of Yerevan.

It was joined by a number of political forces and opposition public figures. The initiators of the mass rally urge citizens to stand up for Karabakh and Armenia, which, according to the oppositionists, are under threat.          

According to them, the current government “is ready to include Karabakh in Azerbaijan”․

Third President of Armenia and former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) chairman Serzh Sargsyan came to today's rally, but will not make a speech there, RPA vice-chairman Armen Ashotyan told a press conference Tuesday.

According to him, the former president will stand together with the rally participants.

"He will be a part of the people. He will stand with the people," Ashotyan explained.

https://news.am/eng/news/694928.html

Meanwhile, Armenian Second President Robert Kocharyan's participation in the 5 April opposition rally will depend on his well-being.

Earlier Hraparak newspaper reported that Kocharyan was injured while skiing in Tsakhkadzor and suggested that Kocharyan may not participate in the rally because of his injury.

• Hundreds of Los Angeles Armenians held a rally outside the Armenian consulate in Glendale in defense of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the efforts by the people of Armenia to prevent the de-Armenianization of Artsakh, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the Facebook page of the US Western Regional Committee of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party.

The assembled clearly expressed their message: They are against any scenario where Artsakh is part of Azerbaijan, as history shows that such scenario will be the precondition for another genocide.

https://news.am/eng/news/695004.html

By the way, US Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy recently met with relatives of Armenian servicemembers who were captured in 2020 and 2021—some of whom have received long sentences from Azerbaijani courts, some whose fates are currently unknown.

The embassy urged to release of all prisoners as well as increase efforts to obtain information about the fate of missing servicemembers

• Polish Ambassador to Armenia Pawel Cieplak had a press-conference Tuesday in Armenia.

During the briefing, he noted that the main goal of Poland is to restore cooperation between the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

He noted that the most important purpose of the visit of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Zbigniew Rau was to understand the position of Armenia in connection with the Karabakh conflict and in connection with security issues

According to him, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was determined to hear Rau's proposals, and Pashinyan received clear answers.

The envoy also noted that nearly 3,000 Armenians have crossed the Polish border from Ukraine since the start of war.

He noted that this is the eleventh largest national group to cross the border of Poland from Ukraine. "To date, 2.4 million refugees have crossed the border into Poland from Ukraine," the ambassador added.

• Although neither Russia nor Ukraine rule out the possibility of a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Vokodymyr Zelenskyy, nevertheless, that meeting does not seem to take place in the foreseeable future.

Moscow again said that the meeting will not take place until the text of the agreement to be signed is agreed between the delegations of the two countries.

"Nothing has changed for us here. "We do not rule out the possibility of a meeting between our president," said Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Zelenskyy's statement that the meeting may not take place.

According to Zelenskyy, it is necessary that in such talks Ukraine has a stronger position than Russia, so it is necessary to unite society, a powerful weapon.

Zelenskyy, by the way, is again dissatisfied with the West. He said thatSanc there is no list of countries that are ready to guarantee 100% security in Ukraine. In particular, he said.

“We do not need 40 countries in the world,” he said. “We need serious players that are ready for everything. We need a circle of states that are ready to provide any kind of weapons within 24 hours. We need distinct countries that sanctions policy really depends on.”

The issue of security guarantors is a priority for Ukraine. This is one of the conditions under which Kyiv is ready to discuss its military neutrality, that is, the issue of non-membership in NATO, demanded by Russia.

• The United States and Europe are planning new sanctions on Tuesday to punish Moscow over killings in Ukraine’s Bucha, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned more deaths were likely to be uncovered in areas seized from Russian invaders

Yesterday, the United States and Germany announced new sanctions due to the Bucha incident. A new wave of deportations of Russian diplomats has also risen in European countries.

Italy deports 30 diplomats, Sweden - 3, Denmark - 15, Germany - 40, France - 35.

The European Commission is preparing a strict package of sanctions against Russia, which will ban the export of Russian coal, close the EU's sea and land borders to Russian cargo carriers, ban the import of production equipment to Russia, and impose new sanctions on Russian oligarchs and their families.

The European Union also plans to ban the export of cement, timber, rubber and chemicals from Russia. Even Russian vodka and caviar fell under sanctions.

The US Congressmen appealed to President Biden to increase arms supplies to Ukraine.

The lawmakers' request also includes an increase in shipments of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles, which are running low in Ukraine, as well as longer-range drones.

• An incident occurred on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border.

Azerbaijani border guards have killed an Iranian national in a shootout on the border with Iran, officials in Baku said Tuesday, adding that 32 kilograms of drugs had been found on him.

The incident took place Monday in Azerbaijan's Jabrayil district, close to the 400-mile border with Iran, Azerbaijan's border guard service and the office of prosecutor general said in a joint statement.

By the way, Azerbaijan lies on a major drug smuggling route from Afghanistan and Iran to Europe and Russia, said the US Department of State in the 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.