7 minutes from Transcaucasian Telegraph.
PM Pashinyan promotes the army figures in charge of reforms
Five officers in charge of various departments were promoted from Col to MajGen on Saturday.
This includes Arthur Yeroyan, the newly appointed Deputy CoGS who oversaw the recent reforms at Vazgen Sargsyan Military Academy and cooperates with NATO around the Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP).
Armenian parliamentarians visited Sofia for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly session
Pashinyan’s helicopter makes an unscheduled landing due to bad weather during a trip to Tavush border to meet the protesting residents
Pashinyan visited the border villages in Tavush on Saturday to meet the residents and the border guards. His helicopter had to land in Vanadzor "due to bad weather conditions" and the rest of the trip was made with a car. The video shows a terrified Pashinyan looking out the helicopter window while filming the dense clouds.
In Baghanis he met a group of villagers to discuss the delimitation. The meeting was closed for the press as in prior cases but a video montage is usually released after the meeting. The activist-reporter from an opposition outlet, who recently criticized an opposition MP for breaking ranks and opposing the road closures, refused to leave the meeting room and had to be dragged out by security agents. Earlier she was recorded shouting at Pashinyan "Who gave you the right to sell the homeland."
A video of a meeting with residents was released later: video.
Loudspeaker in hand, the side of the rascal. video,
In an interview with the press, Pashinyan emphasized the importance that the Soviet-era borders are being reproduced on the ground as part of the agreement with Azerbaijan to use Almaty as the principle. He expressed hope that over time the locals will grow to appreciate the benefits of stability. "These villages had no security guarantees prior to this process. Today we are creating those guarantees one border post at a time."
Pashinyan said they will build an additional defense structure, or possibly a wall, in the part of Kirants where residents feel vulnerable. Recently the government offered Kirants to build another new school further away from the border and use the one that’s under construction as a facility for border guards. The residents of Kirants are split over this. Some prefer to have another school, while others want to use this one because constructing another building would require time and they just want a local school ASAP. Pashinyan wants the residents to use the school for at least a month (starting this September), and if they still have concerns, they will build a new one.
Pashinyan said they have agreed with Azerbaijan to withdraw the armed forces and replace them with border guards, to withdraw border guards by 5 meters from the border on each side, and to install a 2-meter-tall fence with barbwires along the entire delimited border.
"In the modern world [with modern weapons]there is no stronger guarantee other than having a delimited and legitimate border," said Pashinyan, adding that Armenia and Azerbaijan have already agreed to use 1991 Almaty as the principle for delimitation.
Pashinyan met the border guards before lighting a candle in Voskepar’s St. Astvatsatsin church, which remains in Armenia despite earlier claims by opposition figures that "Pashinyan plans to surrender it": video.
The PM then visited the frontline to observe the newly installed border posts: video. He was briefed that the Armenian side has already installed 6 observation points, while Azerbaijan is still preparing to build a road on their side. No border violations were recorded.
In Kirants, Pashinyan met several residents who lost property and a group of "hardcore" protesters who earlier shut down the local roads. During the meeting, they complained about their property losses. Pashinyan met the Kirantsi tati with a map in his hand and explained why they were delimiting the border specifically through those lines. Another resident said he doesn’t care if Armenia gives Azeri lands to Azerbaijan as long as "not a centimeter of my homeland is given"to which Pashinyan responded with reassurance that the delimitation did not lead to loss of any Armenian territories. The resident then engaged in a verbal argument with Pashinyan and another man and said that he would take someone with him to the afterlife if his homeland was given, to which Pashinyan responded, "Look into my eyes. I agree." The resident paused, and the conversation seemed more relaxed afterward.
Another resident said his grandfather worked on the small bridge so he regrets that the delimitation places it on the Azeri side. Pashinyan said they have checked the maps multiple times to ensure the delimitation is accurate.
Pashinyan promised to return to villages as many times as necessary and that he would spare no effort to keep them up to date. "Your problem is my problem."
There is a state subsidy program that encourages border villagers to "enlarge their families" by building new houses with a $41,000 state subsidy. The government has decided to increase that amount by $13,000 for the residents of these 4 Tavush villages.
The government has already issued compensation for the living space lost by a couple of families in Kirants. As for gardens and lands that are partly or fully lost due to the delimitation or the need to deploy border guards/fences on them, the state will compensate for them but some residents recently said they won’t accept compensation so the "negotiations" continue. The government says some issues were caused in Kirants by inaccuracies in the property databases that existed for decades, which led to some residents erroneously receiving ownership rights to properties that were located outside of Armenia.
Pashinyan also visited the new road that’s being built for Kirants that will bypass the small section that’s inside Azerbaijani territory. When asked why they didn’t launch the construction of this alternative road sooner, Pashinyan said the residents and roadblocks didn’t allow them to until recently.
Pashinyan apologized to the villagers for the emotional distress and expressed appreciation for a "difficult" but gradually growing "understanding" around the need to delimit the borders.
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Armenian criminal subculture figure Don Pipo released a video from Moscow, urging everyone to attend the ex-regime’s May 26 mega-massive rally to oust Pashinyan: VIDEO
anti-corruption: Armenian authorities charge two more mayors from Nagorno-Karabakh accused of misappropriating state property, and one with bribing residents to join protests
A few months ago an NGO raised the alarm that some Nagorno-Karabakh public officials were possibly illegally appropriating the state service vehicles they brought with themselves from Nagorno-Karabakh during the exodus.
On Fridaywe learned that authorities charged the mayor of Askeran with the theft of a ֏5 million vehicle in January. He was later charged with participating in another scheme: giving $20 bribes to Nagorno-Karabakh refugees to join the anti-Pashinyan protests.
On Saturday, authorities also arrested the mayor of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Martakert Misha Gyurjyan for allegedly stealing a Chevrolet Lacetti-1
Later that day they arrested and charged the mayor of the capital Stepanakert Davit Sargsyan and 3 municipal officials, accused of forging documents in February to commit large-scale (4 vehicle) state property theft.
Interior Ministry will have an ethics commission as part of reforms to more clearly define conflict of interest and agents’ rights and responsibilities: VIDEO
The police department is part of the Interior Ministry. The commission will have 7 members, including "civilians". The police and rescuers will have a unified code of conduct.
EU is raising Schengen visa fee but it won’t affect Armenian citizens
The European Commission is raising the visa fee starting June by 12%
• Adults: Previously €80, now €90
• Children (aged 6-12): Previously €40, now €45
This does not apply to Armenian citizens, however.
GOV’T: The fee for Armenian citizens is defined by the agreement On Facilitating the Issuance of Visas between Armenia and the European Union signed in 2012. Under the agreement, the Schengen visa fee is €35, and if the visa is issued by an external service provider (visa centers), the fee for this service should not exceed €30.
passport reforms have reduced the number of stamps necessary for certain procedures for citizens located abroad: VIDEO
There were an annual 600,000 instances of "passport validations" and "exit stamps". The government says the simplification came at the right time to balance out the rising demand caused by refugees and the lack of a biometric system. They have also digitized the readmission system with the EU to handle migrant flow, one of the prerequisites of launching visa liberalization negotiations with the EU.
As for the implementation of the modern biometric passport system, an international competition is launched to choose a company. The choice will be made by a commission formed by the government that will inspect every company’s offer.
Another thing that was recently digitized is the issuance of residency status to workers with foreign citizenship (e.g. Russian-Armenians, Indians).
Dozens of passport centers will shut down as part of an optimization process after the completion of digitization.
bank deposits are on the rise, as more citizens choose to save their wealth in banks: VIDEO
March 2022: ֏3.983 trillion
March 2023: ֏5.091 trillion
March 2024: ֏5.707 trillion or $14.8 billion (new record)
75% of deposits are owned by Armenian residents
49% of deposits are in dram (up YoY)
EXPERT: There is trust towards dram, in part because of the dram-dollar exchange rate. The residents are depositing more these days. There is also growth in the use of term deposits.
A term deposit is a type of deposit account held at a financial institution where money is locked up for some set period of time.
EXPERT: The wages are on the rise so this is a result of higher income, but also a result of the realization that earning interest on deposits is better than holding the cash under the pillow.
PROFESSOR: Whereas businesses often find it more profitable to invest their cash to generate economic activity, in the case of ordinary citizens they prefer to deposit the funds into banks, which are then used by businesses. //
As of March 2024, the volume of loans issued by banks reached ֏5.174 trillion ($13.4 billion).
plastic surgeons from around the world gathered in Yerevan for an international forum: VIDEO
They shared experience in areas of reconstructive surgery for combat wounds, etc.
fish oil snake oil?
A study analyzed data on over 415,000 people ages 40 to 69 participating in the UK.
Fish oil supplements may increase the risk of first-time stroke by 5% and atrial fibrillation by 13% among people in good cardiovascular health.
Fish oil only helped people with existing heart disease. Prescription versions are recommended because of their pureness.
Over-the-counter fish oil suffers from a lack of purity and consistency, as well as potential contaminants and heavy metals such as mercury.
the days where people just go to the store and buy buckets of fish oil pills to keep them well should be over
Experts recommend these food sources for omega-3s: sardines and wild-caught salmon. Avoid farm-raised salmon because the water they are raised in may contain impurities.
Other sources: Lake trout, mackerel, herring. Big fish tend to contain more mercury.
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