Day: January 26, 2024

Պարզ չէ, թե ինչ են ուզում իրարից #Հայաստանն ու #Եվրամիությունը․ հետազոտություն՝ «ԱՊՐԻ Արմենիա»-ից https://t.co/fBCppcbunR via @armradio#Armenia #EuropeanUnion #EUArmeniarelations #SouthCaucasus

— Հանրային ռադիո (@armradioAM) January 26, 2024

European Court of Justice on Azerbaijan  JAMnews

23 foreign media organizations applied to cover snap presidential election in Azerbaijan, says CEC Chairman  AZERTAC News

Azerbaijan to launch project for creation of digital twin technology  News.Az

A few days ago, Moscow conveyed another invitation to Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to visit Russia to discuss a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan, the Russian Foreign Ministy spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a briefing, according to Repo

According to the instructions of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerishiq OJSC continues reconstruction works and uninterrupted service in all territories liberated from invasion, including in Kalbajar district, at an altitude of more than 3000 m above sea level, despite heavy snow and frost, Azernews reports.

Georgia’s National Bureau of Enforcement has postponed the eviction of a second family in Tbilisi, as protests against a series of controversial evictions continue.

On Friday, protesters gathered outside the home of the Balakhadze family, who were due to be evicted later that day. The family includes Guja Balakhadze, a food delivery worker and the family’s primary breadwinner, his brother, who has disabilities, his elderly mother, and several children. 

The protest was organised by Khma (‘voice’), a left-wing movement, and was also supported by the May Student Movement, food delivery workers, several miners from Chiatura, and Varlam Goletiani, the leader of the grassroots group Saving the Rioni Valley.

Varlam Goletiani led the successful movement to prevent the construction of a large dam in western Georgia. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.
Tariel Mikatsadze, a miner from Chaitura, told the crowd on Friday that he had come to the protest directly from his night shift at the mine to express solidarity towards the families facing eviction. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

The Enforcement Bureau announced their decision soon after the protest began outside the house in Tbilisi’s Vera District.

It follows a similar aborted eviction from a flat on Tbilisi’s Dadiani Street where protesters had gathered on Wednesday.

The protests began on Tuesday, as the Enforcement Bureau, with the help of the emergency services and police, successfully evicted the family of Marina Kharatishvili. During the eviction, 20 people were arrested as protesters clashed with the authorities.

One of the speakers at Friday’s protest, a child who was due to be evicted on Wednesday, referred to Kharatishvili’s eviction and the uncertainty it created for him and his family.

‘I may have stayed in my home on the 24th, they didn’t come, but before that, on the 23rd, [it felt as if] they evicted me along with Miss Marina.’ Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.The protests against this week’s evictions have drawn unprecedented attention to predatory lending and the role of commercial banks and the government. Advocacy for adequate housing had previously been minuscule in Georgia, mostly limited in recent years to students demanding adequate campus housing.

A university sit-in

Following the Enforcement Bureau’s decision to postpone Friday’s eviction, members of Khma, the May Student Movement, and several supporters marched to Tbilisi State University to continue their protest.

Students protesting at Tbilisi State University. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Students from the May Student Movement and their supporters occupied the main office of the university to demand a halt to foreclosures on families’ sole residences and the release of two men facing criminal charges for their roles in Tuesday’s demonstration.

They were demanding the release of Giorgi Khasaia and Akaki Chikobava — two activists from Khma. Chikobava is also an invited lecturer at the TSU.

The two are currently in pre-trial detention facing charges of damaging or destroying property as part of a group, punishable by three to six years in prison.

23 January demonstration against eviction in Tbilisi. Photo: Shota Kincha/OC Media.

‘Let the academic staff join us. Let the University go on strike until Giorgi Khasaia and Akaki Chikobava are freed from unlawful detention and the planned evictions are stopped’, their statement read. 

Khasaia and Chikobava have been accused of smashing the windows of a car belonging to the National Bureau of Enforcement, which enforces court rulings. The incident happened during an attempt by protesters to prevent an eviction in central Tbilisi on 23 January.

[Read more about Tuesday’s demonstration: Police clash with protesters attempting to block Tbilisi eviction] 

The Georgian Bureau of Enforcement car damaged during the 23 January demonstration. Photo: Shota Kincha/OC Media.

Chikobava and Khasaia did not strongly dispute the charges during their bail hearing on 25 January, but requested to be released on a bond of ₾2,000 ($750), which Tbilisi City Court judge Davit Kurtanidze denied.

The post Second family saved from eviction in Tbilisi as protests continue  appeared first on OC Media.

The owner of one of Armenia’s largest mobile operators, MTS Armenia, has announced that it will give the government 20% of its shares at no cost. The decision comes after the government approved the sale of the operator’s shares to Fedilco Group Limited, having previously blocked the move. 

The mobile operator stated that the move was being made in light of the ‘strategic importance’ of the network for Armenia. However, commentators noted that this was the third such transfer of shares from a major company to take place since 2021, and raised warnings regarding the Armenian government’s attitude to companies operating within the country. 

MTS Armenia previously belonged to Aramayo Investments Limited, a company registered in Cyprus but owned by the Russia-based MTS group. The company sold its shares to the Cyprus-registered Fedilco Group Limited on Wednesday, with the sale including MTS Armenia’s subsidiary, the MobiDream payment system. 

The operator’s statement noted that the new shareholder company was owned by Zhe Zhang and Konstantin Sokolov, whom the press release described as ‘professional investors with a diverse background in telecommunications, finance, energy, investment, and asset management’. 

A spokesperson for the Russia-based MTS mobile operator, MTS Armenia’s parent company, told Interfax that the deal was part of the Russia-based group’s ‘transformation strategy’. 

‘If there are favourable offers, MTS will sell non-core assets or assets with limited potential for growth in value, and direct the proceeds to the development of its key ecosystem business in Russia’, they said. 

However, MTS applied to obtain 100% of its Armenian wing from Aramayo Investments in August 2023, but was rejected by Armenia’s Public Service Regulatory Commission (PSRC).

This marks the third instance since 2021 that large companies have transferred shares to the Armenian government for free. In October 2021, Geopromining offered the government 15% of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine. On 18 January 2024, Armenia’s government accepted a 12.5% share of Lydian Armenia, greenlighting the operation of the contested Amulsar gold mine.

A risk to national security, or a trusted collaborator?

Reports that MTS Armenia’s shares might be sold began to circulate in late 2022. 

In April 2023, Armenia’s Public Service Regulatory Commission (PSRC) rejected an application submitted in January for the transfer of 100% of MTS Armenia’s shares owned by Aramayo Investments Limited to Fedilco Group Limited. 

The application was rejected on the grounds that the transaction ‘harms or may harm national security and state interests’, based on an assessment by Armenia’s Ministry of High-tech Industry in collaboration with ‘interested bodies’, likely including Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS). 

However, in November of the same year, the same bodies approved the sale, with the Ministry stating that it had ‘no objections’ and the NSS that it had no comments. 

Following Thursday’s announcement, Armenian commentators raised concerns that the transfer of the share to the government might affect the country’s attractiveness to foreign investors. 

‘At first glance, we, the citizens (the state), become owners of large assets, which is gratifying, but serious reputational risks arise from the point of view of the country’s investment attractiveness’, wrote economist Haykaz Fanyan. ‘Any major investor considering the possibility of entering Armenia will undoubtedly take these circumstances into account, and since such transactions are usually accompanied by 0% transparency, the assumptions will become more “hardened” ’.

Fanyan also warned that Armenia might be moving towards ‘state capitalism’. 

‘I remembered how in the 2000s the Russian population was rejoicing that the authorities were taking back from oligarchs the strategic assets privatised for pennies in the 90s, hopefully the parallels will be limited to that’, wrote Fanyan. 

According to Cyprus’ State Register of Companies, Fedilco was registered in April 2022. Hetq reported that two companies also registered in Cyprus, Nofal Holdings Limited and Ortasano Investments Limited, hold 75% and 25% shares in the company, with the ultimate owner of both companies, via Wimthed Limited, being Andreas Ourris. 

All four companies were registered in 2022, with almost no information available about them aside from press relating to MTS Armenia. 

 

The post Armenia’s government receives 20% share in mobile operator company appeared first on OC Media.

It took sixteen years, but an Armenian court has ruled that Hetq is innocent of slandering former Ijevan Mayor Varuzhan Nersisyan in a case involving the illegal operation of a sand mine at the White Water reservoir on the Aghstev River.