The talks on initialing of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement will have been over by the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius in November 2013, Ambassador-at-Large of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Vaidotas Verba said when replying to ArmInfo's question. 

He thinks that there are all prerequisites for sooner initialing of the agreement. "As far as I know, the Association Agreement is almost ready, the finishing touches are put in the document on Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area", he said. The Ambassador regrets that after initialing the agreement, it will take Armenia long to undergo the relevant EU procedures and fully become an associate member.   

Verba said that he does not understand Russia's irritation with Armenia's initialing the Association Agreement. He thinks that European integration does not rule out other ways of development. "The EU does not insist or force; countries make their choice themselves. Armenia has also made its choice and we help it", he said.  

To recall, on July 10 Stefan Fule, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, said in Yerevan that the European Union does not make Armenia choose between the integration projects. Fule thinks that the signing of the Association Agreement will not restrict Armenia's interaction with other countries. In the meantime, the European Commissioner stressed that there should be elementary compatibility between the two integration projects. He said that the EU does not force its partners to restrict their relations with Russia. He added that the EU will encourage the cooperation with Russia in the fields that meet Armenia's interests. 

After a joint discussion held on June 15-18 in Tbilisi within the framework of the "Breaking the Impasse" series, a group of Azerbaijani and Armenian experts from the region of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict produced a document that includes recommendations for international organizations and institutions, local governments, donors, and civil society. The group believes that to restore trust between the sides at this point, the following measures are necessary:

- To begin a regular monitoring and establish a database of all incidents in the zone of armed confrontation that harm civilians; to support the inclusion of civil society in the process of monitoring;

- To begin a regular monitoring of speeches and statements by officials and mass media of the conflicting sides in order to detect manifestations of xenophobia, hate speech and the language of violence; to support the development and implementation of international mechanisms to minimize these manifestations;

- To proceed with the development of specific measures to prevent casualties among civilians and military personnel along the entire contact line of the armed forces; to carry out a regular monitoring and analysis of such incidents;

- To start the development of measures to strengthen public control over compliance with the ceasefire regime;

- To create a set of legal norms and ethical principles preventing violence and excluding any threat of the use of force from rhetoric;

- To develop mechanisms of revision and reconstruction of the system of teaching social science and humanities courses to eliminate the practice of the formation and spread of the enemy image in the field of education; to monitor textbooks in the context of this problem;

- To activate existing dialogue platforms and to create new ones to strengthen contacts between different social groups involved in the conflict (youth, athletes, students, etc.);

- To activate existing dialogue spaces and to create new ones to strengthen contacts between leaders who influence public opinion (analysts, artists, journalists, politicians, etc.);

- To strengthen contacts between environmental organizations to address the existing problems in the region of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; to develop and implement mechanisms of effective control by, and involvement of, environmental NGO's in the process of minimizing ecological risks;

- To intensify contacts and meetings between people directly affected by the conflict (families of victims, missing persons, etc.)
At a time in which the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process is in need of stimulation, and in particular in need of a greater role of civil society in confidence building between the parties, this group of experts from the region suggests actively promoting the above-mentioned ways and methods to foster trust and cooperation between the parties.

This document was produced within the framework of the project implemented with the organizational support of the Center for Peacemaking Practice of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution of George Mason University and the Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation. The project is supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The Government of Azerbaijan takes all measures to remain at power longer; therefore, Baku will unleash no new war in Karabakh. The war is dangerous for Azeri authorities rather than Armenians, Nureddin Memmedli, Deputy Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, told Faktxeber.com.

He thinks that one of the scenarios may be "local military operations in the run-up to the elections. But as I have already said, the war will be more dangerous for us than for Armenians, because they kill the people's patriotism and the army is in a desperate situation. The army has turned into a death machine for the Motherland's children", he said.       

He added that Azerbaijan is unlikely to take steps running counter to the interests of international forces that are not interested in military operations in Karabakh.  
There are 3 months left before the presidential elections in Azerbaijan. The democratic forces of Azerbaijan have created a national council and nominated Rustam Ibragimbekov as a joint candidate.

Ex Foreign Minister of Armenia, MP from Prosperous Armenia Party Vartan Oskanian has been summoned to the National Security Service. 

Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper has failed to receive any comments from Oskanian but referring to its own sources in the National Security Service, reports that the Service has examined the money laundering case brought against Oskanian and will shortly send it to court. 

The newspaper says that the Service will officially announce this shortly, but they in the Service have not confirmed this information.
To remind, Oskanian has been accused of laundering money through his Civilitas Foundation.

 Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper reports that the negotiations for selling Nairit Plant to Rosneft have been stopped and if resumed, will be resumed no earlier than in late autumn.

"The negotiations have been held for two years already. The key problem is that Rosneft wants to buy the plant without its debts," says the newspaper.

The biggest chloroprene rubber producer in the USSR, Nairit Plant was stopped in 1989 as an environmentally unsafe production. In 2001 it was restarted. In 2006 90% of it was sold to British Rhainoville Property Limited. Armenia's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry holds 4.496% of the plant's shares, ArmRusgasprom 3.596%, Yerevan TPP 1.907%.

 Armenia's Human Rights Defender Karen Andreasyan has asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Lukin to protect Hrachya Harutyunyan, the Kamaz driver who has been arrested for causing the July 13 bus accident in Podolsk.

In his letter Andreasyan says that the Constitution of Russia prohibits anybody from humiliating a person's human dignity whatever he has done.  Earlier Spokesman of Armenia's Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan told ArmInfo that the Embassy of Armenia in Russia is taking measures to help Harutyunyan.
According to Russian mass media, Harutyunyan's lawyers said that they will not dispute the verdict of the Tver court of Moscow to keep him in custody till Sept 13. 

"We believe that the preventive measure applied against my client was too tough, but he is a foreign citizen and has no permanent residence in Russia, so, we did not expect the court to let him free," one of the lawyers Erik Chabanov said after the verdict was announced. 

He told ITAR-TASS that Harutyunyan was not going to appeal against the verdict because it was all the same to him. 

Chabanov said that the Kamaz Harutyunyan drove was not drivable. "It might have been a brake failure. The vehicle was made from three different cars and was not drivable. But the owners of his company told him to drive it. It was not his duty to keep the car in proper condition. It was the duty of his employers. We are going to prove this," Chabanov said, adding that the problem is that Harutyunyan does not know who exactly he worked for.

"Of course, indirectly he is guilty because he agreed to drive an unfit vehicle, but the direct blame rests with his employers," Chabanov said.  To remind, on July 15 Harutyunyan was brought to court from hospital in a colored housecoat. This fact has raised a wave of discontent in Armenia and among the Armenians living in Russia.

On July 13 Harutyunyan's Kamaz drove into a bus with 64 passengers. 18 people were killed. If found guilty, Harutyunyan may face seven years in jail.

The Embassy of Armenia in Russia is trying to help Hrachya Harutyunyan, the Kamaz driver who has been arrested for causing the July 13 bus accident in Podolsk, Spokesman of Armenia's Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan told ArmInfo on Tuesday. 

He did not specify what exactly the embassy is doing but promised that the results of the measures will be made known.

According to Russian mass media, Harutyunyan is currently undergoing a medical examination. 

The fact that Harutyunyan was brought to court in a colored housecoat has raised a wave of discontent in Armenia and among the Armenians living in Russia. People in social networks are protesting against such humiliation of human dignity.

On July 15 the Tver court of Moscow ruled that Harutyunyan will be in custody till Sept 13. On July 13 Harutyunyan's Kamaz drove into a bus with 64 passengers. 18 people were killed. If found guilty, Harutyunyan may face seven years in jail.

Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 409,7 drams for 1 dollar, 535drams for 1 EUR and 12,5 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 411 drams for 1 dollar, 537 drams for 1 EUR and 12,6 drams for 1 Russian ruble . 

 Tbilisi. President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili stated at the end of last week that it was expedient to take more care of the country's reputation to maintain its leadership at least on the post-soviet area. "Georgia has a very positive reputation and we are to take care of it and improve it, not to level with the ground and Georgia will maintain its leading positions minimum on the post-soviet area", Saakashvili said, summing up results of his two day visit to the capital of Moldova.

Tbilisi. Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius may become crucial in relations between Georgia and the European Union, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stephan Fule stated at the 10th international conference Georgia's European Way on Friday, July 12.

Tbilisi. Georgia is grateful to the European Union for the firm and consequent support to the country's territorial integrity, head of the Georgian government Bidzina Ivanishvili stated on Friday, July 12. 

The premier noted regretfully that there were still many unsettled conflicts in Eastern Europe.

The revived Russian Ponzi scheme, MMM, has reached Armenia. 

In Apr-May 2013 the new MMM launched a PR campaign in the country.  Their new status is an international NGO and an international benevolent fund, their slogan is We are Changing the World, their tactics in Armenia are to capitalize on growing income gap and poverty.  MMM's local units are headed by some Tachat, Luiza and Ghevond.  According to their newsletter, their new concept is the operative business model of the modern banking system. 

"The old system was a predatory scheme, the new one is based on mutual assistance and humanism," this is the theme line of the new MMM.
 
Established by Sergei Mavrodi, MMM was a Russian company that perpetrated one of the world's largest Ponzi schemes of all time, in the 1990s. By different estimates from 5 to 40 million people lost up to $10 billion. In the aftermath at least 50 investors, having lost all of their money, committed suicide.

 NATO will be able to expand into the post-Soviet area only if Russia faces a total collapse.  Otherwise, I see no way for NATO to do it, Sergey Markedonov, visiting researcher at the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies, said during an online press-conference on Monday.

According to Markedonov, the willingness of Azerbaijan, Georgia or Ukraine is not decisive here. "This is not as easy as it may seem. NATO is not a monolith. The positions of France and Germany are much different from the position of the United States. The same is true for the post-Soviet republics – each of them has a different attitude towards its possible membership to NATO," the expert said.

When asked if Azerbaijan is pro-Western or not, Markedonov said that today there is no more cold war. "The contradictions between Russia and the United States are just a clash of interests rather than a conflict of ideologies. So, there is no need for a final choice between them.  Today, Azerbaijan is neither pro-Russian nor pro-American, it is pro- Azeri. The same is true for Armenia. The only exception was Saakashvili's pro-American Georgia. All the other countries are trying to find a balance in their relations," Markedonov said.

Markedonov's press-conference was part of a project carried out by Region Research Center (Armenia) and Peace and Democracy Institute (Azerbaijan) with the support of the British embassies in Armenia and Azerbaijan with a view to expand knowledge of Armenians and Azerbaijani about each other and to build confidence through first-hand information.

"Azerbaijan has always voiced its principled position. This position is that to drive the peace process from the deadlock Armenia should at least start withdrawing its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories," spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev told APA when asked to comment on the statement made by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan at his today's press conference with OSCE Chairman-in-Office Leonid Kozhara in Yerevan.

During the press-conference Nalbandyan refuted the Azeri media reports that his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov expressed the above-mentioned position during the last meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Vienna.  

On 15 July President of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan met in Yerevan OSCE chairman-in-office, Ukrainian foreign minister Leonid Kozhara.

The press service of the NKR President reports that a number of issues related to the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement and regional trends were discussed during the meeting.

In his speech Sahakyan noted that official Stepanakert opted for peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict within the frameworks of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The NKR President underlined the necessity of restoring the negotiation format approved by the OSCE Budapest Summit, adding that it would be impossible to reach a comprehensive settlement of the conflict without NKR's direct participation. 

Sahakyan considered official Baku's destructive policy as the most important hindrances on the way of solving the Azerbaijani- Karabakh conflict, which gradually becomes more dangerous and should receive corresponding reaction of the international community.

NKR Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan, Personal Representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office Andrzej Kasprzyk and other officials were present at the meeting.

The Banality of Denial:  Israel and the Armenian Genocide by Israeli researcher and historian Yair Oron has been translated into Armenian.

During a press-conference in Yerevan Oron said that the book compares the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide on the basis of yet unknown facts.

He hopes that Israeli journalists will show an interest in the book and will present it to the local society.

Ameriabank provides another chance to talented young specialists to start their career with the Ameria team under the Ameria Generation project. The press service of Ameriabank has told ArmInfo that active, self-motivated young specialists wishing to develop their professional skills in banking and having a bachelor's degree in finance, economics, technical and humane sciences can submit their applications for intership.  
   
The source says that following the try-out the applicants will undergo free three-month internship among the experienced specialists of Ameriabank, and the Bank will pay for the trainees' work throughout all that period.     

During the first phase of the project, i.e. over the first five weeks, the participants will get knowledge in such subjects as finance, economics, accounting, public relations, etc. They will also familiarize themselves with the history of the Bank, principles of business ethics and business conduct. The second phase will last for 7 weeks. The participants will be given an opportunity to apply their knowledge practically, which will show their ability to work independently and as a member of the team. The participants who successfully pass all the phases will continue working in Ameriabank. To recall, in 2012 27 out of 30 applicants joined the Ameria team with their innovative ideas under the same project.          

To note, Ameriabank CJSC provides investment, corporate and retail bank services. Since November 2011 Ameria Group has been the majority shareholder of Ameriabank with a 99.99% stake. The Bank has 9 branches, 5 of them in Yerevan, 3 in the regions, and 1 in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic .

 Before joining the Eurasian Union Armenia should receive clarification about Karabakh's status in the Union, Kiro Manoyan, Head of the ARFD Bureau's Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office, said in Yerevan on Monday.   

He thinks that following the statements on Armenia's possible signing of the Association Agreement with the EU, Russia started exerting pressure on Armenia to force it to join the Eurasian Union. Manoyan emphasized that Armenia's Association membership should not hinder its Eurasian integration. He added that before signing the Armenia-EU Association Agreement, the Armenian negotiators should present the core of the 1,000-page document, publish it and only after that decide whether to sign it or not.  

To recall, on July 10 Stefan Fule, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, said in Yerevan that the European Union does not make Armenia choose between the integration projects. Fule thinks that the signing of the Association Agreement will not restrict Armenia's interaction with other countries. In the meantime, the European Commissioner stressed that there should be elementary compatibility between the two integration projects. He said that the EU does not force its partners to restrict their relations with Russia. He added that the EU will encourage the cooperation with Russia in the fields that meet Armenia's interests.  

It is not the first time that Azerbaijan is distorting the results of a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan told journalists on Monday, when asked to comment on the Azeri reports that during his last meeting with the co-chairs in Vienna Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan would continue the peace talks only after Armenia withdrew from the "occupied" territories.

Nalbandyan said that no such statement was made during the Vienna meeting and that it was just one more attempt by Azerbaijan to distort reality. 

"In Vienna we continued to discuss ways to facilitate the process. We also considered the schedule of our next meetings, particularly, the possibility of organizing a high level meeting by the end of this year. We agreed that there was need for such a meeting," Nalbandyan said.

 

As OSCE chair, Ukraine believes that the OSCE Minsk Group could be more active in settling conflicts, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said during a press-conference in Yerevan on Monday.

He said that Ukraine supports the co-chairs' activities but expects more specific and practical results from them. "No single international conflict has yet been settled through conferences or meetings. Here we need fruitful practical work," Kozhara said.

He said that settlement of frozen conflicts is one of Ukraine's priority as OSCE chair as the country is surrounded by such conflicts. "So, the key topic of my meeting with my Armenian colleague was ways to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We believe that the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process must be intensive and that relevant contacts must be frequent and stable," Kozhara said.

He said that Ukraine is ready to foster contacts between Armenian and Azeri societies and to support any activity to alleviate the consequences of humanitarian disasters.