The new president of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has promised to punish Putin for the war in Ukraine#Putin will be held accountable for his war crimes in #Ukraine, the newly elected president of the International Criminal Court (#ICC) in The Hague, Tomoko… pic.twitter.com/7ZdT3XEBlY
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 20, 2024
Day: March 20, 2024
Saudi crown prince says Jared Kushner handed him U.S. intelligence https://t.co/SS1gGq6fbg
— Molly Ploofkins™ (@Mollyploofkins) March 20, 2024
The new president of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has promised to punish Putin for the war in Ukraine#Putin will be held accountable for his war crimes in #Ukraine, the newly elected president of the International Criminal Court (#ICC) in The Hague, Tomoko… pic.twitter.com/7ZdT3XEBlY
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 20, 2024
#Russia serviceman killed near country’s 102nd military base in #Armenia, he arrived dead at a local hospital with gunshot wounds, possibly during training. Being reported by Armenian media, occurred six days ago. Not many details made public.
Source: https://t.co/yzVESe8uxS
— Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver) March 20, 2024
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Hundreds of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh demonstrated in Yerevan on Wednesday to demand that Armenia’s government expand its aid programs for them and seek international security guarantees for their return to their homeland.
The rally was organized by Karabakh civic organizations and public figures that emphasized its nonpartisan character. Their joint statement read out by one of the speakers singled out the housing needs of the refugees and criticized a government plan to help them obtain permanent homes in Armenia.
Under the tentative plan outlined by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatrian last month, the government will finance the purchase or construction by refugees of new homes in mostly rural areas. The funding will be set at 3 million drams ($7,400) per person. It would constitute a grant for Karabakh children and pensioners and a loan for the other refugees.
Karabakh’s main political factions were quick to reject the plan. They said that with the money promised by the government displaced Karabakh Armenians could only buy homes in remote small towns and villages that offer very few job opportunities.
The statement adopted during the rally likewise said that the government must increase the housing funding levels and not demand its repayment. It said the government should also continue paying monthly compensations to refugees renting apartments or houses.
Since November, refugees who do not own a home or live in a government shelter have received 50,000 drams ($125) per month to pay rent and utility bills. The aid program expires at the end of this month.
The organizers of the rally further urged Yerevan to strive for “international protection mechanisms” for a collective repatriation of the Karabakh Armenians.
“Any Azerbaijani rule there must be ruled out because that would be genocidal rule,” said one of them, former Karabakh premier Artak Beglaryan.
“At the moment, I don’t see a realistic chance of a repatriation meeting our demands,” admitted Gegham Stepanyan, Karabakh’s exiled human rights ombudsman. “At the same time, I believe we must not close the issue or allow international actors to close the issue.”
The Azerbaijani government says that the Karabakh Armenians are free to return to their homes if they agree to live under Azerbaijani rule. Karabakh’s leaders and ordinary residents rejected this option even before last September’s Azerbaijani offensive that forced them to flee to Armenia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in February that Moscow and Baku are “discussing prospects for the return of the Armenian population to Karabakh.” Stepanyan dismissed the statement at the time, saying that only “international guarantees” could convince the Karabakh Armenians to return home.
Armenia’s government does not seem to be seeking such guarantees. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly indicated that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.
Moscow said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was being pressured by Western powers to cede land to Azerbaijan, blaming the Armenian leader for scaring his own population about a potential war as he moves his country closer to the European Union and Western allies.
“Scaring one’s own population is hardly the best way to achieve a favorable result for Armenia,” said Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova at a press briefing Wednesday, saying that Russia should not be blamed if Pashinyan decided to advance Armenia’s relations with the West.
She said Pashinyan has been making “unilateral solutions to contentious territorial issues” under Western pressure.
“These matters need to be resolved calmly, constructively, there is a mechanism for this; it is the Armenian-Azerbaijani border delimitation commission. We are ready to help with this work, taking into account our experience. Within the framework of this structure, work should be done on the basis of the aforementioned principles,” said Zakharova.
The Russia spokesperson intimated that the framework agreed upon by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia for the delimitation and demarcation of the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan does not envision territorial concessions by Armenia.
Zakharova went on to accuse the Western powers, especially NATO, of hijacking Moscow’s efforts to mediate a peaceful solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan countries.
She said this week’s visit by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to Yerevan and Baku was an attempt to “pull the South Caucasus countries” the Western alliances of zone of influence.
“Such attempts have been carried out for a long time and on a regular basis both by NATO supporters and NATO member states individually. The recent visit of a NATO official of such level confirms that this activity has increased in that direction, and has increased many times over,” added Zakharova, saying that the fact that Armenia, Azerbaijan and other countries are engaged in relation with Russia is not convenient for the West.
“Hence the continuous attempts by NATO and its supporter, the European Union, to promote the deterioration of the relations of regional states—both with each other and with Moscow—to aggravate the situation along our southern borders,” Zakharova said.
“Of course there is also a maximized effort to open a second front against our country in the Caucasus and to set the region on fire again,” she added.
“The agreements that were reached [between Armenia and Azerbaijan] with the mediation of Russia are literally a red rag for the West because it was truly a path leading to peace, based on mutual respect and mutual consideration of each other’s interests,” Zakharova said, adding that NATO and its allies are aiming to ultimately end relations between Yerevan and Moscow ad are driving wedge in Moscow’s relations with Baku.
Zakharova said that the EU and NATO are “seizing the agenda,” and blamed them for the recent events in Nagorno-Karabakh where their approaches “ignored the need to preserve the rights and security of the local Armenian population.”
She went on to accuse the EU Monitoring Mission in Armenia of spying on Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran. This scenario, she said, “could lead to irreversible consequences in the region.”