The Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union may become equivalent partners, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said during a meeting with heads of CIS mass media in Minsk on Monday.

Armenia cannot join the Customs Union tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. To do it, Yerevan should implement all the procedures and adopt at the legislative level all those normative documents which have been already drawn out. Armenia has to pass the way of joining just the same way as countries join WTO in a certain period of time, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the meeting with heads of the CIS mass media. 

 VTB Bank (Armenia) expands geography of UNIStream transfers, the bank's press-service told ArmInfo. Now the bank offers addressless money transfers via UNIStream system to Albania, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Lithuania, Mongolia, Czech Republic, UK, and Israel. The recipient can receive the transfer at any cash point in the above countries in the Russian rubles, US dollars and euro. (The addresses of cash points are available at http://www.unistream.ru/service- points/). 

 ReAnimania 2013 International Animation Film Festival will take place in Yerevan Oct 26-31.

"For the time being no discussions are being held between Azerbaijan and Armenia, only separate meetings are held. Holding discussions requires readiness of both sides. We think the opposite side is not ready for these discussions", the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told journalists, APA reported.                                 
Azimov said that the sides can hold new meetings: "However, according to my own position, it’s senseless to hold a meeting just for the sake of a meeting. If opportunity for progress is observed in the issues that will constitute the essence of the meeting, Azerbaijan will not refrain from such a meeting. However, as you see, there is no progress in this direction".    

 Vash-Vish, a film produced by Alaverdi's SOS Culture Youth Club to tell about the town's environmental problems, has been recognized as the best Youth Film at the 4th Sun Child Environmental Festival.

 For many years the problem of racism, xenophobia and intolerance is on close inspection of Europe, Armenia's Foreign Minister, Edward Nalbandyan, said at the opening ceremony of the international conference "Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Europe" held in Yerevan, 21 October. 

We do not discuss a problem of deployment of CSTO peacemakers in the Karabakh conflict zone, as other structures have been implementing functions to ensure stability at the conflict zones at the post-Soviet area, CSTO Secretary General, Nikolay Bordyuzha, said at today's on:line press-conference, 
<It is no secret, that Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in Transdniestia and have been fulfilling their task well. As for Nagornyy Karabakh, it has a special status. The decisions adopted here depend on two states. And the problem of deployment of peacekeepers is not discussed here", - Bordyuzha said.

 Members of the field movement of Armenian veterans are going to meet president Serzh Sargsyan and to submit their options for settlement of the social and economic problems of the country, the head of the movement, Suren Sargsyan, said at today's press-conference. 

 CSTO Collective Rapid Response Force (CRRF) will be soon equipped with modern Russian arms, CSTO Secretary General, Nikolay Bordyuzha, said at an on:line press-conference. He said that at present they have got the confirmed list of the armament and they simply need specification of the terms of their delivery.  
He also added that experts from the CSTO member-states will gather in Moscow on 22 October to discuss the delivery process and all the problems connected with it, in particular, the financing problem, thanks to which the delivery has been delayed for a certain period of time. "We have to look for huge financing sources. At the same time, we hope that the problem will be settled soon", - Bordyuzha said.

 Activists attempted to break the ongoing High Level Conference "Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Europe" in Yerevan today. 

The Union of Writers of Armenia convened on 20 October and elected Edward Militonyan, Director of the Center for Book and Publishing, as Head of the Union with majority of votes. The voting outcome was as follows: Militonyan - 199 votes, Hovik Hoveyan - 100 votes, David Sargsyan - 24 votes, Romik Khachatryan - 4 votes.

Seven people, including prominent actor Vardan Petrosyan were injured after BMW 04 UL 920 and VAZ 2121 870 OL 64 crashed on Yerevan-Yeghvard highway approximately at 9:20pm on 20 October. Shamshyan.com said.

What are the prospects of the Russian policy on creation of the Eurasian area?

 President of the European Movement Azerbaijan (EMA) Ramin Hajili urges Armenia to withdraw its troops from "the occupied territories". He assures that if Armenia withdraws its troops from "these 6 regions", official Baku will make very big concessions.

Lydian International Ltd., a gold-focused mineral exploration and development company, announced that the working group formed by the Armenian government has concluded its assessment of the company's latest proposed location for a heap leach processing facility at its Amulsar gold project, "EcoLur" NGO reported.

 Arminfo-Turan. The head of the Azerbaijani European Movement (AEM) Ramin Gadjili and an expert for the peacemaking initiatives of AEM, Gamid Giyasbeyli, will visit Yerevan on 19 October. 

The Karabakh conflict may resume in the worst option, French Le Monde says. 

The ruling party of Armenia claims that the decision to access the Customs Union stems from national security of Armenia. How much grounded is that statement, given that Russia sells weapons to Azerbaijan amid Kazakhstan’s demands to immediately close the borders with Nagorno Karabakh? What did really motivate Armenia to access the CU?

The Association Agreement is still on the agenda of the Armenia-EU negotiations, Armenia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, told Radio Liberty.