Russia has used the self- determination principle to annex Crimea but sooner or later that principle may work against it, Director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies Manvel Sargsyan told journalists on Monday.

On March 25 the green activists will hold an alternative conference on mining. The event will be the response to the March 25-26 international conference titled "Responsible Mining in Armenia:  Opportunities and Challenges".  

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) has condemned the recent attacks on Kesab, a Syrian town with mostly Armenian population.  

 Armenia's Foreign Ministry is taking steps to ensure the safety of the Armenian community of Kesab, the Ministry's Spokesman Tigran Balayan told ArmInfo on Monday.

Armenia's former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan has called "idiocy" the Government's decision to impose compulsory accumulative pension system in the country. 

If the Constitutional Court refuses to abolish the compulsory component of the accumulative pension system, the I Am Against civic initiative will organize acts of civil disobedience, member of the initiative Gevork Gorgisyan said at the initiative's rally against the system today.  

 Opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan has advised the Armenian authorities to look for long- term cheap money in the pockets of government officials and oligarchs rather than ordinary people.

 The leader of Heritage Party Raffi Hovannisian has offered the I Am Against civic initiative to jointly force Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to resign.

Some 5,000-6,000 people have gathered in Yerevan's Liberty Square today in protest of compulsory accumulative pension system in Armenia.  

The newspaper "Hraparak" has dramatized the Armenian President's meeting with the heads of Armenian banks. The head of one of the leading banks of Armenia has told ArmInfo that the President of Armenia invited the bankers to dinner about a week ago when the West's sanctions against a number of Russian businessmen and the Rossiya Bank were even out of the question.     

The statutory capital of VTB Bank (Armenia) has been increased to 20.8 blnb drams through additional issue of shares, the bank's press-service told ArmInfo.  This month the bank issued shares in the amount of 7 bln drams. VTB Bank OJSC acquired the issue entirely, but its share in VTB Bank (Armenia) was left unchanged.

"The capitalization will allow retaining the growth rates, even more increasing the loan portfolio and expanding the branch network. The sustainable growth of the Bank was reflected also in the key figures for 2013. Thus, as of Jan 1 2014 assets of the bank totaled 303.6 bln drams with a 42.5% annual growth (or by 90,5 bln drams). 75% of total assets are credit exposures, which grew 33% for 2013, " says Yury Gusev, Director General-Chairman of Board of VTB Bank (Armenia).

"The increase in the statutory capital of the bank will not only strengthen the bank's leadership positions by active operations, but also allow the bank gain leadership position by the total capital. At present, a new development strategy of VTB Group is being developed, which will determine the development plans also for the subsidiaries, including VTB in Armenia," says Mikhail Yakunin, Senior Vice President, Head of the Department for Subsidiaries of VTB Bank, Chairman of the VTB Bank (Armenia) Board.

According to the Financial Rating of Armenian Banks prepared by ArmInfo, VTB Bank (Armenia) is the leader by credit exposures. The share of the bank's loan portfolio in assets is nearly 76%. Over 61% of the total loan portfolio is loans to economy sectors and nearly 39% are retail loans, with an annual growth of 37% and 33%, respectively.

The bank is among Top Three banks of Armenia in terms of loans to economy sectors and personal loans. The bank has leadership positions also by trade finance, industrial agricultural, construction loans, SME finance and consumer loans.

In 2013 the bank doubled lending to the industrial and construction sector, increased lending to the agricultural sector by 85%, trade

finance- by 19%, SME finance - by 52%, consumer lending - by 38%. VTB Bank (Armenia) is among TOP Three banks in terms of time deposits -106.5 bln drams (nearly 41% of total liabilities) with a 47% growth for 2013. In the structure of time deposits, personal loans make up nearly 80%, with a 43% annual growth of the absolute indicators. Total capital of the bank grew 24% in 2013 to 37.5 bln drams, with the statutory capital totaling 13.9 bln drams. In 2013 the bank received

4.9 bln drams profits, which was 28% more than in 2012. The bank retains the leadership position also by the given indicator.

VTB Bank (Armenia) CJSC joined the financial group VTB in April 2004.

At present VTB Group holds 100% stake in VTB Bank (Armenia). The Bank has the largest branch network - 67 branches, including 44 in the regions of Armenia.

As of Mar 1 2014 Anelik Bank's deposit portfolio totaled 33.1bln AMD or 28.8% more than on Mar 1 2013.

The press service of the bank reports that in Jan 2014 the bank introduced a new DRAM deposit, offering its holders 14.5% annual interest. Due to it, the bank's personal deposit portfolio grew by 1.4bln in Q1 2014.

Deputy CEO of Anelik Bank Hayk Mkrtchyan said that the bank has always given high priority to customer relations and is glad to see its personal deposit portfolio growing.

The sole owner of Anelik Bank is Credit Bank S.A.L. from Lebanon. The bank is member of Anelik, MoneyGram and Inter Express money transfer systems. It has 12 branches all over Armenia. As of Jan 1 2014 it capital totaled 13.1bln AMD, assets 60bln AMD, credits 38.8bln AMD, obligations 47bln AMD, time deposits 26.2bln AMD.

 Crimea's joining Russia has tangibly weakened Ankara's positions in the region, Gagik Haroutiunyan, political scientist, the head of Noravank Scientific 
Educational Foundation, told reporters, Friday. He said there was a real threat of Turkish Navy's domination in the Black Sea basin if Russia left Crimea, specifically, the base in Sevastopol, not to mention Ankara's appetites for the peninsula.

"However, the referendum of Crimea and unification with Russia has put an end to Turkey's expansionist aspirations. That fact was beneficial for Armenia, of course. We know that everything that is good for Turkey is not always good for Armenia," Haroutiunyan said. 

The expert believes that Yervan can use the fact of the Crimea referendum in the Karabakh peace process. "It is another triumph card in the hands of the Armenian diplomacy. In this light, it is very strange for me to see how some Armenian experts blame Russia's actions. I can understand the Turkish and Azerbaijani politicians and political experts who slam Moscow's action in Crimea, I can understand their motives, but when Armenian experts join them and 
criticize Russia, it is shocking," the analyst said.

Commenting on the latest statement by US Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern wherein he voiced regret over the Armenian president's stance on Crimea, Gagik Haroutiunyan said: "The US ambassadors very often express their personal views of any issues, instead of voicing the official stance of their country."

To recall, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in a phone talk with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on 9 March that the Crimea referendum is another case of exercise of peoples' right to self-determination via free expression of will.

 Ambassador of Ukraine to Armenia Ivan Kuhta is still in Yerevan and is holding meetings, the Embassy of Ukraine in Armenia told ArmInfo on Friday.

Earlier Interfax quoted Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official Yevgeny Perebiynis as saying that Ukraine has recalled Kuhta to Kyiv for consultations. He said that the Ukrainian authorities are waiting for Armenia's official statement on the Crimean problem. Earlier they sent a note to Ambassador of Armenia to Ukraine Andranik Manukyan.  

Ukraine was displeased to know that during his phone talk with President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said that the Crimean referendum has become one more example of a nation having exercised its right to self-determination.

 ArmenTel CJSC (Beeline trademark) and Microsoft Office in Armenia have launched a course of video lessons for schoolchildren in Armenian and a free educational mobile application for Windows Phone. 

During a press-conference on Friday ArmenTel's CEO Andrey Pyatakhin said that ArmenTel has always given high priority to projects developing mobile content in Armenia and has cooperated on this with lots of companies and NGOs, including Microsoft Armenia. He is sure that the current project will spawn new mobile technologies in Armenia's educational system and will help to make children's education more interesting and life better.

The video lessons will cover very different subjects and will be meant for schoolchildren of different ages. They are based on the best innovative solutions. You can find them on www.mlg.am. 

CEO of Microsoft Office in Armenia Grigor Barseghyan said that from the first day of its work in Armenia Microsoft Armenia has tried to help the country's educational system with innovative technologies and solutions. "We carry out lots of projects in high and higher schools. We provide them with new software, organize training courses and conduct competitions. Our new joint project with ArmenTel is one more attempt to make education more accessible," Barseghyan said.  

Asked by ArmInfo to comment on on-line education, he said that he does not think that on-line education will replace ordinary schools. Such applications are just meant to help. "Our younger generation does not like reading, so, we hope that our solutions will help to solve this problem. They will also make Armenia's school curricula accessible to Diaspora Armenia," Barseghyan said.

Mirosoft has innovation centers all over the world. Their mission is to support local start-ups. The Armenia-based center was opened in 2011.

 "It happens so that in the heat of time and events, different phenomena are perceived in different ways. But the great thing about time is that over time 
things clear up, misunderstandings and disagreements disappear and everything returns to normal", Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said when responding to Ukrainian film director Olena Fetisova's refusal to attend the annual Armenian Presidential Award Ceremony.  

According to the RFE/RL Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am), at the award ceremony Serzh Sargsyan said that he had received a letter from Fetisova, who was writing about the reasons of her refusal to visit Yerevan. "I will pass the state award on to her through her colleagues and, in accordance with her wish, we will use its financial component for benevolent purposes," Sargsyan said. "I understand Ms. Fetisova's motives but I want to appeal to the distinguished lady and the Ukrainian people by saying that we are brotherly peoples." "For centuries, we fought shoulder to shoulder against aggressors. We have thousands of glorious pages of common history. This has been the case and this will be the case," he said. 

Olena Fetisova, the Ukrainian screenwriter, producer and co-director of a new feature film about the late Sergey Paradjanov, addressed an open letter in Russian and English to President Sargsyan. She pointed out that her participation in the award ceremony was impossible because of the Armenian President's stance on the Crimean referendum. "I would like to kindly ask you to convey my part of the remuneration of the State Prize of Armenia to the Armenian orphans," she said. "I am sure that Sergey Paradjanov would do the same."

Ambassador of Ukraine to Armenia Ivan Kuhta is still in Yerevan and is holding meetings, the Embassy of Ukraine in Armenia told ArmInfo on Friday.

Armenia's Ambassador to Ukraine was invited to the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine and handed a note, press-secretary of Armenian Foreign Ministry, Tigran Balayan, told Arminfo correspondent.

The four non-coalition forces of the Armenian Parliament have all reasons to conduct a vote of no confidence in the Armenian Government, but there are no mechanisms to do that, political technologist Karen Kocharyan said at today's press conference in Yerevan.