Author: Simon Torossian

Last September, Armenia and India signed military agreements with the aim of arming the Armenian army with heavy weapons amid the Azerbaijani military incursions into Armenia’s international borders. The arms deal included significant export orders of Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRL), anti-tank missiles, rockets and ammunition worth US $250 million to Armenia. The Pinaka multi-rocket launch system, which is an indigenous Indian heavy weapon, is capable of firing a salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds. According to a report, “A single battery can neutralize a one square km region.” In 2020, India also landed a US $43 million order to supply four Swathi weapon-locating…

In comments from publishing players this summer in Armenia and Romania, we hear two outlooks, one upbeat and the other less so. In Armenia, Mkrtich Karapetyan—the founding president in Yerevan’s Edit Print Publishing House—says that an elevated interest in reading has contributed to some growth in book sales. “Taking into account the fact that the interest in reading has been growing over the last two or three years in Armenia,” Karapetyan says, “we expect that it will keep growing, and sales with it. In the case of our publishing house, we systematically undertake different projects, including reading competitions and excursions in…

A senior Azerbaijani official has expressed concern over the rejection by the self-proclaimed Armenian leaders in Karabakh of Baku’s proposed path for shipments. Ali Huseynli, chairman of the Azerbaijani National Assembly Law Commission, said this refusal presents “a significant risk to achieving a peaceful resolution of disputes between Azerbaijan and Armenia and hampers the efforts to establish lasting peace in the region.” Huseynli told Anadolu that Armenia was trying to carry cargo to Karabakh using the Lachin-Khankendi road under the guise of “humanitarian aid.” He stressed that the Lachin corridor lies in Azerbaijan’s territory and so Baku proposed using the…

The best solution to the situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is the removal of the illegal blocking of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan, and the start of the Stepanakert-Baku dialogue within the framework of the international mechanism. This was announced by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at Friday’s regular Cabinet session of the Armenian government. “Armenia, in turn, continues to reaffirm its commitment to the peace agenda, and calls on official Baku to refrain from steps aimed at nullifying the historic opportunity to establish peace,” Pashinyan added. According to him, the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh continues to deepen and expand. Pashinyan said…

Frankfurt, Brussels (30/7 – 27) Kenges Rakishev, international entrepreneur, philanthropist and former special envoy of the Kazakh government, is leading the charge for an upcoming Nasdaq listing of Borealis Foods Inc., a fast-growing food tech company imbued with a mission to serve growing consumer needs. Rakishev intends to tackle global food challenges by developing nutritious, sustainable, and affordable ready-to-eat meals. This product is currently on sale in US and Canadian markets, with ambitious, imminent plans for a European market invasion. The Company stands at the forefront of innovation, having pioneered the world’s first plant-based ramen meal on a mass scale,…

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday that regional countries are the ones that should resolve the region’s issues, while foreign meddling would only complicate the situation. He made the remarks during a meeting with visiting Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the capital Tehran, according to a statement published on the website of his office. Raisi stressed that Iran supports the peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, expressing hopes that the talks would help ensure peace and security in the region. He voiced Iran’s opposition to foreign interference and any geopolitical alteration in the region, adding that his country…

Paris, Brussels (29/7 – 75) Kazakhstan has started arbitration proceedings against companies developing Kashagan and Karachaganak oilfields, over US$13 billion and $3.5 billion respectively in costs deducted as part of profit-sharing deals, its Energy Minister said on April 11. “I can only say these lawsuits have been filed in the interest of the people of Kazakhstan,” Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev told reporters, declining to provide any further details about the claims. The offshore Kashagan field in northern part of the Caspian Sea, one of the biggest discoveries in recent decades, is being developed by Italian Eni, British Shell, French TotalEnergies,…

The European Union has refused to provide Armenia with military aid from a special fund designed to boost EU partners’ defense capacity, parliament speaker Alen Simonyan said on Tuesday. Simonyan complained about the rebuff as he met with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda during a visit to Warsaw. He told Duda that the Armenian government had requested “technical assistance” from the European Peace Facility (EPF) which the EU created in 2021 to help developing countries buy military equipment. “Through that mechanism, the EU allocates aid to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia,” he said, according to the Armenian parliament’s press office. “Unfortunately, Armenia’s…

On Wednesday morning, “units of the Azerbaijani armed forces opened artillery fire” on Armenian positions, the Artsakh Defense Army said, adding there were “four servicemen who were killed in action as a result of another provocation by Azerbaijan”. In a later statement the group said that the situation along the border was now “relatively stable”. The news came as the United States mediates three days of new peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in its latest attempt to quell a conflict that has flared repeatedly. Secretary of State Antony Blinken opened closed-door talks with the adversaries’ foreign ministers just outside Washington on Tuesday, in the…

This was a deeply unedifying evening for Wales, a frankly embarrassing evisceration that could quite feasibly have lasting ramifications. A shock defeat by Armenia, a country sandwiched between Kyrgyzstan and Belarus in the Fifa rankings, 71 places below them, represents a significant setback to Wales’s hopes of reaching Euro 2024. It was a dire performance and an ignominious result, the kind that had shades of those sore losses to Moldova, North Macedonia and Cyprus that supporters thought were consigned to yesteryear. Just as in Nicosia in October 2007, this was a desperate Group D Euro 2024 qualifying defeat and it remains to be…