The Russian Embassy in Armenia regrets that that the July 13 road accident near Podolsk, which killed 18 people, is used by certain persons to stir up anti-Russian sentiments. The Embassy considers the actions aimed at using the big human tragedy for narrow political purposes and undermining the Russian-Armenian relations to be absolutely irrelevant. Politicized assessments are unacceptable, the Embassy says. "The tragedy near Podolsk has no national shadings", the source says. It adds that the case will be investigated thoroughly and impartially.      

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

 If Turkey is really interested in sooner settlement of the Karabakh conflict, it should not interfere with the peace process, Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov says when commenting on Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's statement made on July 17.  

Speaker of Armenian Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan condemns the humiliating actions against the Armenia citizen being charged with an accident in Russia, the press service of the Armenian Parliament told ArmInfo.   

 Russia has used the Hrachya Harutyunyan case as part of its anti-Armenian campaign, Chairman of Armenian Helsinki Committee Avetik Ishkhanyan told journalists on Wednesday.

 I am not aware where my father is and how he is, says Lilit Harutyunyan, daughter of Hrachya Harutyunyan, Kamaz driver arrested in Russia for causing a bus accident near Podolsk. 

Karabakh war veteran Vladimir Arakelyan has urged Armenian oligarchs to donate money for the needs of the army.

 Armenia's National Security Service has refuted the media reports saying that it has sent a special group to Cyprus to investigate the offshore scandal involving Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. 

Spokesman of the Service Artsvin Baghramyan told ArmInfo on Tuesday that this is a lie. "Simply some media are trying to fish in trouble waters," he said.
Meanwhile, Zhoghovurd newspaper reports that the group is supposed to see if Tigran Sargsyan actually has property in Cyprus and to report its findings to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

Earlier it was reported that Tigran Sargsyan and Primate of the Ararat Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Navasard Kjoyan had registered an offshore company in Cyprus. Both refuted their complicity saying that the company was registered without their knowledge, but Attorney General of Cyprus Petros Cleridis said that one could not register an offshore company without the knowledge of shareholders.

Introduction of new technologies and inflow of serious capital investments will increase the productivity in the agrarian sector and enhance the competitiveness of Armenian commodities in the foreign markets. 

The mass media have recently published Armenian programmers' letter addressed to the chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA). The letter asked the CBA to explain why Google AdSense and Paypal do not work with Armenia. The ArmInfo News Agency has applied to the CBA to comment on the issue. 

The CBA's statement reads: "According to its policy, the Central Bank of Armenia does not reply to anonymous letters but, giving high priority to open contacts with the public, the Bank has found it reasonable to comment on the problem raised in the letter". 

 An action of protest against the humiliation of Armenian citizen Hrachya Harutyunyan in Russian court will be held in front of the Embassy of Russia in Armenia on Wednesday.

The press service of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) reports that the organizers of the action are the Nikol Aghbalyan Students Union and the ARFD Youth Union. 

"We are planning to give the employees of the Embassy an old housecoat to show them that centuries-old 'friendship' is not eternal and that nothing can justify this kind of behavior in 'democratic' Russia," says the organizers. 

At the same time, they extend their condolences to the families of those killed in the bus accident caused by Harutyunyan.
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 13 Harutyunyan's Kamaz drove into a bus with 64 passengers. 18 people were killed. On July 15 the Tver court of Moscow ruled that Harutyunyan should be in custody till Sept 13. The Armenian may face seven years in jail if found guilty.

The changes in Armenia's policy on recognition of the Armenian Genocide imply an intellectual fight against Turkey, Professor Rouben Safrastyan, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, said at a press conference on Tuesday.    
 
He said that he welcomes Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan's statement about the need to retrieve the Armenian lands if that statement marks the beginning of changes in the policy on the Armenian Genocide recognition. "If this marks the beginning of changes, we should immediately start preparing for the intellectual fight and unify the Armenian worldwide", he said.   

To recall, during the July 5 Pan-Armenian Forum of Lawyers dedicated to the forthcoming centenary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan said that the assignees of the Armenian Genocide victims should receive material compensation, the Armenian Apostolic Church should be given back the churches and lands belonging to the Church, and Armenia should retrieve its territories.  He stressed that one of the Armenian lawyers' goals is to detect the organizers and instigators of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.    

In response, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the statements of the person holding such a high post allegedly run counter to Armenia's UN and OSCE accession commitments. 

In the run-up to the local elections, Turkey will unleash a small war with Syria, Professor Rouben Safrastyan, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, said at a press conference on Tuesday.     

He thinks that the war will aim to raise the rating of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Safrastyan recalled that Erdogan's image considerably suffered from the protest actions around the Gezi Park. The expert also thinks that a new political force may emerge in Turkey in early 2014. 

As regards the situation in Syria, Safrastyan thinks that if the West fails to provide wide-scale military support to the rebels, the Syrian Government will eventually exult in its victory. -n-

Over the past 2 years, a total of 180 manufacturing companies were founded in the Aras Free Trade & Industrial Zone of Iran. In 2012 the companies' exports (including the exports to Armenia) totaled $132 mln, Sadegh Najafi Khezerlou, Managing Director of Aras, said at the opening of the Armenian-Iranian business forum (July 15-18).

He thinks that Aras creates unprecedented opportunities for Armenian businessmen to manufacture, store, transit and re-export their goods to the Middle East countries. 

Sadegh Najafi Khezerlou said that Aras occupies an area of 51 thsd ha in the territory bordering with Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan along the River Arax and in the area of North-South transport corridor connecting Iran and Armenia.

He added that foreign citizens have an opportunity to register in the zone a trade or manufacturing company with a 100% foreign capital within 24 hours. In addition, the goods produced in the zone are exempted from 50% VAT and customs duties if sold in the Iranian market. Duties are levied for the raw materials and components only. If the companies export their goods to other countries or sell them in other free trade zones of Iran, they are exempted from taxes and customs duties for 20-25 years. He added that the VAT preferences lead to 30-40% reduction in the prime cost of the goods produced there. 

To note, the Aras Free Trade & Industrial Zone numbers 29 Iranian companies with a total capital of $121.5 mln, 5 Turkish companies with a total capital of $12.5 mln, 1 Azeri-Iranian company with a capital of $1 mln, and 2 Iranian-Turkish companies with a total capital of $3 mln.

The Turkish authorities' nervous response to Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan's statement about the need to retrieve the Armenian lands is explained by the fact that Turkey realizes the threat to lose what it had acquired illegally, Ara Papyan, Head of the Modus Vivendi Center, ex-Ambassador of Armenia to Canada, said at a press conference on Tuesday.    

The expert thinks that Turkey is irritated with the fact that an Armenian official is for the first time speaking not only about the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but also about the need to compensate for the damage and to retrieve the lands. Papyan believes that Turkey has many weak spots and the Treaty of Sevres is one of them. "In case of serious changes in the world, the Treaty of Sevres will become one of the tools to exert pressure on Turkey. Subsequently, we should get ready and take advantage of the situation", he said. 

To recall, during the July 5 Pan-Armenian Forum of Lawyers dedicated to the forthcoming centenary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan said that the assignees of the Armenian Genocide victims should receive material compensation, the Armenian Apostolic Church should be given back the churches and lands belonging to the Church, and Armenia should retrieve its territories.  He stressed that one of the Armenian lawyers' goals is to detect the organizers and instigators of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.    

In response, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the statements of the person holding such a high post allegedly run counter to Armenia's UN and OSCE accession commitments.

 The European Union has its own levers of pressure, and Russia will have to put up with the results of the negotiations on the Armenia-EU and Ukraine-EU Association Agreements, Vitis Yurkonis, lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, told ArmInfo on July 16.  
    
He thinks that Lithuania's EU Chairmanship would focus on Ukraine. "If that country signs the Association Agreement, it will finally deviate from the integration into the Eurasian Union. This can't help irritating Russia", he said. He thinks that the given agreement has become a new reason for a geopolitical fight between Moscow and Brussels, however, the Brussels levers will impact Russia's stance.  

In the meantime, the expert is skeptical about Armenia's possible initialing of the Association Agreement, because this process must be carried out with all the Eastern Partnership member countries simultaneously.  "Meanwhile, most of the Eastern Partnership members are not yet ready for the Association Agreement", he said. Yurkonis thinks this may delay Armenia's signing as well.   

To note, Lithuania assumed the EU Chairmanship on July 1. President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite said that one of the Lithuania's EU Chairmanship priorities would be the EU's relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. She expressed hope that Association Agreements and documents on Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area would be signed with the specified countries.

 Armenia will benefit from Lithuania's EU Chairmanship, because Lithuania is interested in the Armenia-EU active cooperation, Stepan Grigoryan, Head of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation, said at a press conference on Tuesday. 

He thinks that much depends on the countries presiding in the EU. "Lithuania is interested in initialing of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement, because it wants to establish and strengthen relations with all the Eastern partners", he said. 

Unlike other political experts, Grigoryan believes that it is reasonable to publish the documents after the negotiations and make adjustments if necessary. 
To note, Lithuania assumed the EU Chairmanship on July 1. President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite said that one of the Lithuania's EU Chairmanship priorities would be the EU's relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. She expressed hope that Association Agreements and documents on Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area would be signed with the specified countries. 

 The low cost carrier Air Arabia is returning to the Armenian market and will launch Sharjah-Yerevan-Sharjah regular flights on 16 August 2013, Husam Raidan, Air Arabia Airline Head of Corporate Clients and Customer Relations Department, said at a press conference on Tuesday. 

 Armenia should initial the EU Association Agreement, because the republic will benefit from that from both economic and military-strategic perspectives, Ara Papyan, Head of the Modus Vivendi Center, said at a press conference on Tuesday.     

He stressed that the upcoming initialing of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement has caused tension in the Armenian-Russian relations, and the recent big Azeri-Russian arms deal is the direct evidence of that.  Papyan stressed that strategic partnership implies certain commitments for both sides, and Armenia is often deprived of the West's support due to the strategic partnership with Russia. In the meantime, he thinks that Russia is unlikely to withdraw its military base from Armenia after the initialing of the Association Agreement, because the presence of the military base in Armenia is beneficial first of all to Russia. 

To note, the initialing of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement is expected to take place in Vilnius in November 2013.

 On July 16 Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov received Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki, and Vardges Kodaksian, the head of the Armenian community in Thessaloniki.   

The press service of the Armenian National Assembly has told ArmInfo that Sharmazanov pointed out the importance of effective cooperation between the two countries' towns and communities. He expressed confidence that the promotion and deepening of the interaction between Thessaloniki and Gyumri will give a fresh impetus to the Armenian-Greek relations. The sides also touched on the topic of the Armenian Genocide and pointed out that the best way to prevent genocide is to condemn it. Sharmazanov stressed the need to join efforts against racism, xenophobia and fascism.  

Yiannis Boutaris, in turn, expressed his willingness to contribute to development of cooperation between Thessaloniki and Gyumri, specifically, in the field of culture. He said that in 2014 Thessaloniki will be awarded the title of the European Youth Capital. 

 Three young men were brought to the police this night on suspicion of using drugs. The press service of the POlice reports that all of them have been sent to dependency clinic for a medical examination.

As far as ArmInfo knows, one of them, Artur Manukyan, is the son of Abraham Manukyan, MP from Prosperous Armenia Party, and the future son- in-law of the former chief of the Yerevan Police Department Nersik Nazaryan. It is not the first time Artur is in police.