Author: Set Galoustyan

Frankfurt, Brussels (4/8 – 30) As the political crackdown on any form of opposition in Russia continues almost a year after Russia’s invasion to Ukraine, the persecution of Russian environmental activists is also on the rise. A new report by the Ecological Crisis Group details how law enforcement agencies are targeting environmentalists with Russia’s new anti-war legislation. Eco-activists are targeted for allegedly discrediting the armed forces or spreading fake news about what Moscow insists to name a “Special Military Operation” – the War on Ukraine. More than 60 eco-activists have been prosecuted for anti-war actions since the beginning of 2022.…

Geneva, London (29/7 – 50) Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, condemned the arrest and imprisonment of journalists, bloggers and civil society activists in Tajikistan, and questioned the credibility of the evidence presented in court against them. Lawlor was on a two-week official visit to Tajikistan last December. The report prepared by her and members of the delegation on the results of this visit was published in May of this year, but only now became available to the public. The authorities of Tajikistan will have to prepare an official response to the document, which…

Amsterdam, Copenhagen, (15/7 – 22) The governing Dutch coalition led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been dissolved as a result of sharp differences in views among cabinet members in dealing with the hot potato of immigration, forcing a new election in the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Nov. 22, according to caretaker Interior Minister Hanke Bruins Slot and the General Election Commission (KPU) of the Netherlands. Rutte, the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history and one of Europe’s most seasoned politicians, admitted that frank debate within the four-party coalition government in recent days had nevertheless failed to hammer out…

Armenian human rights defender Anahit Manasyan issued a statement regarding the condemnation of two Armenian servicemen captured from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia by the armed forces of Azerbaijan. “Armenpress” presents the statement of the human rights defender of RA. “The court on grave crimes in Azerbaijan has convicted two Armenian servicemen who were ambushed and captured by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the sovereign territory of Armenia. They have been found guilty of allegedly violating various articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan and have been sentenced to 11 years and 6 months of imprisonment. According…

On a visit to US, Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan met with US Deputy Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Dereck Hogan.The parties discussed the agenda of Armenia-US bilateral relations, including the prospects of economic cooperation. The interlocutors emphasized the preservation of regional security, the continuation of Armenia-Azerbaijan peace negotiations, as well as the creation of an international mechanism for the Stepanakert-Baku dialogue and ensuring the rights and security of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. Source : EN

The transfer of humanitarian goods from Armenia (RA) to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has been stopped as a result of the provocation provoked by Azerbaijan and the tension recorded in recent days. Tigran Abrahamyan, secretary of the opposition “With Honor” Faction of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia (RA) and a security expert, wrote about this on Facebook. “Besides the fact that there have been no [natural] gas and electricity supplies from the RA to Artsakh for several months, in recent days Azerbaijan has banned the transportation of essential food to Artsakh, as a result of which the humanitarian situation…

The process of modernizing the Meghri border checkpoint on the Armenian-Iranian border will continue until 2026, the State Revenue Committee of Armenia has said, according to Sputnik Armenia. Work on the restructuring and modernization of the customs checkpoint in Meghri has already begun. According to the committee, a modern checkpoint will be built to meet international standards, PanARMENIAN.Net reported. “To fully ensure the work of the border checkpoint in Meghri, it is planned to build a two-story administrative building with a building area of 4,000 square meters. The border checkpoint will have buildings for a thorough check of incoming vehicles,…

The recent political transformations that can be observed in the region are very interesting. Zangazur is becoming a center where the interests of a number of regional players collide. And not only regional ones. For example, quite recently the European Union allocated about 100 million euros for the development of this region, and Iran launched the work of the Consulate General in the region some time ago. And in recent days it has become known that Russia is preparing to open the doors of the Consulate General in Zangazur, which was positively assessed by the Armenian side. But what is…

Armenia has released another surprising information about its innovations in the military field. This time, the Minister of Defense of the country, Suren Papikyan, emits information about need for ‘farmers in their arid fields’. Obviously, Armenia has nothing to do with planting and cultivation. If it were in their blood, they would have improved the lands left abandoned for 30 years and raised generations. Anyway…The main issue is Papikyan’s shameless advertising of Armenian women who are recruited into military service. It sounds a bit shameful, doesn’t it…? And, it seems that there are no more men left in Ashot’s house.…

Russia and Armenia have both promoted a discourse about threatened national minorities without any proof to back up their exaggerated claims. Russia and Armenia are the only two of the 15 former Soviet republics with irredentist claims to their neighbours. Their exaggerated claims about alleged threats to national minorities merely camouflage these irredentist claims. Since the early 1990s, long before Vladimir Putin became Russia’s president, Moscow claimed it had a right to ‘protect’ ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in the former USSR. This has been a constant element in Russian security policy through to the present day. Russia intervened to…