Read the daily news digest for June 29 here.

Russia to provide assistance to the conflict-affected regions of Armenia

Today the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin and the Head of the UNDP Representation in Armenia Mihaela Stojkoska signed a Memorandum of Understanding Implemented by the UNDP Armenia Office in coordination with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia.

According to the press service of the Russian Embassy, ​​the program is planned to be implemented in two years. During that time, assistance will be provided from the Russian state budget to 28.000 beneficiaries, particularly in the border regions of Syunik, Gegharkunik, and Vayots Dzor. 3.2 million USD will be allocated for aid.

Kopirkin stressed that one of the main goals of the program is to support the Armenian society in overcoming the stress caused by the escalation of the conflict, moving forward, and regaining its strength.

Armenian citizens to travel to the EU and Schengen area without Covid-19 restrictions

The European Council has included Armenia in the list of safe countries from which COVID-19 limitations for traveling to the EU and Schengen area will be lifted. The decision will enter into force by the end of the week.

In addition to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Canada, Qatar, Jordan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia have been included in the list.

European Union's ''safe country list'' is refreshed on weekly basis in accordance with the epidemiological situation in the countries.

Armenian Parliament discussed the 2021 state budget performance annual report

During the discussion of the draft on approving the annual report on the 2021 state budget performance, Armenia's acting minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan noted that the state debt of the country is about 7 billion 969 million USD, within the framework of which the debt of the government is 7 billion 509 million USD. 

"In its probable and relative size, the debt has crossed the threshold that is estimated as a manageable range. However, we have not deepened the problems in the field of debt and we believe that in the next 5 years our economic programs will increase the potential for economic growth to the extent that our debt decreases and the debt-to-GDP ratio returns below 60% again," Janjughazyan mentioned.

The highlights of the meeting of Russian and Turkish Foreign Ministers

The meeting of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu took place today in Antalya, Turkey.

A wide range of international issues, including the situation in Syria, Libya, and Nagorno Karabakh was discussed.

After the meeting with his Turkish counterpart,  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the reporters that Moscow and Ankara want to contribute with joint efforts to the normalization of practical cooperation between Baku and Yerevan.

''We agreed to closely coordinate our efforts for assisting Baku and Yerevan to solve the practical issues related to the normalization of relations, focusing on the strengthening of confidence measures'', Lavrov said.

A ban imposed on Armenian ex-police chief's property

As a result of the investigation carried out within the framework of the Law on Confiscation of Property of Illegal Origin, the property of the former head of the RA Police Vladimir Gasparyan was banned.

It should be noted that on June 18, Gasparyan has been invited to the prosecutor's office for an explanation. According to the court decision, a ban was applied to Vladimir Gasparyan's property.

Investigation Committee reports one more case of violating the secrecy of the ballot 

On June 29, 2021, a resident of Vardenis submitted a report to the RA Police Department that a 27-year-old resident of the same city met him in front of the 21/52 polling station during the June 20 snap parliamentary elections and urged him to take out the ballot paper mentioned by him as a guarantee. After voting, he met a 27-year-old man and showed him the ballot paper he had taken out of the polling station. A criminal case was initiated in the Vardenis police department. During the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, the resident of Vardenis was given a restraining order as a precautionary measure, and he was questioned as a suspect. The 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of violating the secrecy of the ballot. The investigation is underway.

Armenia confirms 128 new COVID cases and no deaths

128 new COVID cases were confirmed in Armenia today. No cases of death were registered. 60 people have recovered.

As of June 29, a total of 225.095 cases has been confirmed, of which 216.778 have recovered and 4.514 - died.  2.704 patients are currently under treatment. A total of 1.185.002 tests has been performed ever since.