Nikol Pashinyan met Russian Prime Minister

Within the session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council held in Almaty, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin.

In his speech, the Prime Minister of Russia stated that Russia is Armenia's leading foreign trade partner and the main investor in the economy.

"From January-November last year, mutual trade increased by 77% compared to 2021. It exceeded 4.1 billion USD, which for today is a record-high indicator in our mutual trade, and the volume of Russian investments is about 2 billion USD. More than 40 leading Russian companies to operate in the Armenian market and are among the largest taxpayers in Armenia. We consider it important to ensure the implementation of the agreements reached by the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The creation of new transport infrastructure routes is in the interests of all states of the region," he said.

In turn, Prime Minister Pashinyan noted that everything is good in the field of economy, and Russia is a key partner of Armenia in the field of security but, unfortunately, the situation is not so good in the field of security. 

"You know that Lachin Corridor has been blocked for more than a month, and according to the trilateral declaration of the President of the Russian Federation, the President of Azerbaijan, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, it should be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Now it turns out that the Lachin Corridor is not under the control of Russian peacekeepers, which creates specific problems.

Now we can say that a humanitarian crisis is escalating in Nagorno Karabakh. It is a very important and sensitive issue in our bilateral relations. Unfortunately, we have certain issues in the field of security also in the multilateral format, in the CSTO, and we hope that we will manage to solve all these issues. We are working, and we are interested, but unfortunately, frankly speaking, we see no progress in those directions," Pashinyan mentioned.

The International Court of Justice to decide on the cases of Armenia v. Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan v. Armenia

On January 30-31, the hearings on Armenia vs. Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan vs. Armenia cases were held at the International Court of Justice. Both parties justified their requests for temporary measures, and their justifications, and then presented objections to each other's requests.

It should be reminded that Armenia requested to apply the following temporary measures:

• Azerbaijan must stop organizing and supporting alleged "protests" that are blocking unhindered free movement in both directions through the Lachin Corridor.

• Azerbaijan should ensure uninterrupted free movement of all people, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.

• Azerbaijan must immediately fully restore and refrain from disrupting or obstructing the supply of natural gas and other utilities to Nagorno Karabakh.

The International Court of Justice left for the deliberation room to make a decision.

After making the decision, the Court will read it during an open and online broadcast session.

The Court will inform the parties about the date of reading the decision. According to the Court, the decision should be taken as soon as possible.

The proposal to deploy a CSTO mission in Armenia is still not off the table - Lavrov

Russia's proposal regarding sending a CSTO mission to Armenia is still relevant.  If Armenia is still interested, the mission can be deployed within 1-2 days.  This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during an interview given to Russia 24 TV and RIA Novosti.

 "The proposal is not off the table, and if our Armenian allies and friends are as interested as before, that mission can be deployed within 1-2 days," the Russian Foreign Minister mentioned.

It should be reminded that the EU Council reached an agreement on creating a civilian mission of the European Union in Armenia.  The EU civil mission will be initially deployed in Armenia for two years, the management headquarters will operate in Armenia. 

Other News

• Vahram Dumanyan, former Minister of education, science, culture, and sports of the Republic of Armenia was appointed adviser to the President of Armenia.

• The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (AIHGS) and the NSW Ecumenical Council have written to the Australian Federal Government, expressing immediate concerns about Azerbaijan’s blockade against the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).