ArmInfo. The member of the board of the Armenian National Movement (ANM), the former chairman of the parliamentary commission on foreign relations Hovhannes Igityan, is convinced that the coming to power of the candidate for the presidency of Armenia from the Republican Party (RPA) Armen Sargsyan will not suffer a relationship with Russia.

ArmInfo. Today, President Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message to President Sauli Niinisto of the Republic of Finland on his re-election, wishing him robust health, every success and new achievements in the high and responsible position of President of Finland.

ArmInfo. Effective implementation of the Armenian foreign policy is of the same vital  importance for Armenia as internal reforms, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is convinced.

ArmInfo. On January 29, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message to Milos Zeman on his reelection as President of the Czech Republic, wishing him good health and success, and to the friendly people of the Czech Republic - further progress and prosperity.

ArmInfo. "In 2017, several significant events occurred in the development of Armenia-India relations. In particular, the Armenian-Indian meetings were held at a high level.

ArmInfo. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan participated in the festive liturgy dedicated to the Day of "Surb Sargis" The festive liturgy, dedicated to the memory of the commander Sarkis, his son Martiros and 14 soldiers was served in the Yerevan church "Surb Sarkis". In the liturgy, Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan, the patriarchal patriarchal governor of the Ararat Patriarchal Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, also attended the Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan, Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan, military ranks.

ArmInfo. "When in 2013 Armenia last presided over the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, this mission has become an important milestone in the field  of our integration into the family of the Council of Europe, and I  think we have honorably implemented it." Armenian President Serzh  Sargsyan stated this during the winter session of the Parliamentary  Assembly of the Council of Europe on January 24.

ArmInfo. Current global challenges make the economy more than vulnerable to external shocks, and regional development limits the potential for economic growth.

ArmInfo. On January 23, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in Strasbourg to attend the January session of the PACE. The program of the President of the Republic of Armenia began with a meeting with the newly elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Michele Nicoletti. According to the press service of the president, Sargsyan left a record in the "Golden Book" of PACE that he is greatly honored in the Council of Europe, as this structure always stands for the protection of human rights. The President also noted that the 17th anniversary of Armenia's accession to PACE will soon take place. "Faced with problems in the region and beyond, the Council of Europe and PACE should speak the same language in the name of our unity and authority," wrote the head of the Armenian state. Then the President of Armenia met with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland. Prior to this, the president attended the signing ceremony of a number of CE conventions. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Edward Nalbandian signed the documents. These documents supplement about seven dozen international treaties signed by Armenia within the framework of the Council of Europe. President of Armenia and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland summed up the results of the meeting with statements to the media. In his statement, the head of the Armenian state in particular noted that he considers his visit to be symbolic, since on January 25, 17th anniversary of Armenia's accession to the Council of Europe is celebrated. And over the past 17 years, the country has achieved remarkable results in strengthening democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and the Council of Europe has a significant contribution to this process. Serzh Sargsyan noted that he had a conversation with Jagland and the parties came to the conclusion that in the last decade complex reforms were implemented in Armenia to ensure basic freedoms, more open and effective management and a dynamic civil society. Sargsyan also noted that Armenia is gradually moving to a parliamentary form of government, and in accordance with the new Constitution will continue comprehensive legislative reform in cooperation with the Venice Commission and the independent monitoring committees of the Council of Europe. Also during the meeting, issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were discussed. "I thank Jagland for supporting the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, which is of great importance for the facilitation of the negotiation process." I again supported the Secretary-General's view that Europe should not be "gray areas" in the field of human rights protection, which means that the Council Europe should equally respect the rights of citizens living in conflict zones, guided by the status of "neutrality", the Armenian President stated. The sides also agreed that the Council of Europe is the sphere of human rights protection, and the settlement of the conflict should be handled by structures that have an internationally agreed mandate for the settlement of this conflict. "We are convinced that dialogue is the key to solving the problems facing our organization, and in this dialogue the voice of all member states will be heard in order to ensure the integrity and unity of the Council of Europe," said Serzh Sargsyan. Serzh Sargsyan invited Thorbjorn Jagland to Armenia.

ArmInfo.  Between Armenia and Iran, whose relations are more than two thousand years, a stable political dialogue has been formed, constant visits are being made.

ArmInfo. Serzh Sargsyan needs a "representative" president in order to smear political responsibility. The deputy chairman of the opposition party "Armenian National Congress" Levon Zurabyan expressed opinion to ArmInfo. "We repeatedly said before the constitutional referendum that Serzh Sargsyan started reforming the Constitution not only with the aim of reproducing his own power. With the amendment of the Basic Law, Sargsyan actually bypassed the ban on the third presidential term while simultaneously smearing political responsibility for the decisions made in the country," said the politician. On January 19, the incumbent President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, actually announced RA Ambassador to Britain, former Armenian Prime Minister Armen Sargsyan as the candidate of the ruling Republican Party for the presidency of the country. The presidential elections in Armenia will be held on March 2, the parliament deputies, in which the majority of the mandates belong to the Republican Party of Armenia, will elect the president. Further in April, the new president will appoint a new prime minister from the same RPA. "In Armenia, especially after the last parliamentary elections, everything is decided by Serzh Sargsyan together with the Republican Party of Armenia under his control, so before I announced the candidacy of Armen Sargsyan for the presidency I argued that whoever was elected the fourth president of Armenia in such a system of government can only be assigned the role of puppet, and the puppet master will be Serzh Sargsyan," the oppositionist said. Noting the extreme curtailment of the functions of the future president of Armenia in favor of the government and the prime minister, in particular, the politician pointed to one of the articlesfull of the Constitution according to which it is the president who should conclude international treaties. Thus, according to the politician, the president, not by the prime minister of Armenia, will sign any official agreement between the sides of the Karabakh conflict. In this regard, the future president is an ideal opportunity for the future prime minister to blur political responsibility, for example, for decisions on Karabakh. At the same time, Zurabyan is convinced that Serzh Sargsyan will make the real decisions. "The ANC, the opposition, as a whole, do not recognize the official results of the referendum on reforming the country's Basic Law: the results of the referendum were falsified by the authorities, but in reality the people, without any doubt, voted against these changes," Zurabyan summed up. At a referendum on December 6, 2015, 66.2% of citizens voted "for" making amendments to the Constitution transforming Armenia into a parliamentary republic, in which the real power will be concentrated in the hands of the prime minister. The new president will be deprived of levers of influence on foreign and defense policy. The armed forces will report to the Minister of Defense, and the functions of the supreme commander-in-chief are assigned to the prime minister during the period of military operations. The main candidate for the premier's post from the RPA is its leader Serzh Sargsyan.

ArmInfo. Armenia overcomes difficulties, strengthening through democratic reforms democratic institutions, stimulating the development of a free market economy, the growth of information technology, the implementation of innovative ideas. This was stated at the reception in the City Hall of Paris, attended by representatives of the Armenian community, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who is on a working visit to France.

ArmInfo. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at the winter session in Strasbourg on January 22 selected the new chairman of the organization. It is a member of the Italian delegation Michele Nicoletti.

ArmInfo. "The presidential candidate from the Republican Party of Armenia spent a long time abroad and as a result did not participate in numerous internal political intrigues, and this must be seen in a positive way," the secretary of the parliamentary faction of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun stated at a briefing in the National Assembly of Armenia on Jan. 22 "Aghvan Vardanyan, referring to the candidacy of Armen Sargsyan for the post of RA President. Vardanyan noted that Armen Sargsyan is a worthy candidate in all his indicators, taking into account his professional, political and human qualities. The lawmaker said that the press said a lot about the fact that Sargsyan did not engage in politics and for a long time did not live in Armenia, however, given the fact that we live in the information age, this does not mean that he was divorced from those events, which took place in Armenia. Regarding who was nominated to the presidential candidates in the case of Armen Sargsyan's refusal, Vardanyan advised him to wait for an answer and not make any assumptions. In turn, the deputy from the faction "Yelq" Gevorg Gorgisyan stated that the bloc will try to nominate its candidate for president. Referring to the candidature of Armen Sargsyan, Gorgisyan noted that, despite the fact that he did not participate in a number of intrigues, in the falsification of elections and other intolerant internal processes, the fact that he is a Republican candidate already sounds like a diagnosis. At the same time, he said that the representatives of the faction at the meeting with the presidential candidate will present to him the reality that now reigns in Armenia, and if after that he agrees to become president, this will be another major drawback on his part. The deputy also noted that the presidential candidate from the "Yelq" bloc Artak Zeynalyan is in no way inferior to Armen Sargsyan, and if the RPA is really not afraid of competition, then she should add the missing 18 signatures so that Artak Zeynalyan could run. Touching upon the position of the Tsarukyan bloc in the presidential elections, Gorgisyan predicted that his votes would most likely add to the votes of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the RPA. Touching upon the proposal of Gorgisian to the RPA to support the nomination of the candidate for the presidency from the "Yelq" bloc, the head of the Republican faction Vahram Baghdasaryan considered this to be illogical. "How can the ruling party support a candidate from the opposition, especially since there are enough opposition MPs in the parliament and they will have enough votes to nominate their own candidate, and the fact that the Yelk bloc can not enlist the votes of another opposition force only speaks of the disunity of the opposition "- he said, while assuring that if "Yelq"wants to cooperate with the RPA, the latter is ready to give her a helping hand. "Having only 9 votes in the parliament, it is not serious to nominate one's candidate without any support, there is nothing like this in the whole world, and our candidate does not like the representatives of" Yelq"just because he is our candidate," Baghdasaryan said. It should be noted that representatives of the Tsarukyan bloc did not come to the briefing once again, and their point of view regarding this issue could not be clarified. It should be reminded that on January 19, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced that he proposed to the ambassador of the country in the United Kingdom Armen Sargsyan to be nominated as a presidential candidate from the Republican Party. The latter promised to give an answer only after consulting with the social and political circles of Armenia, representatives of Artsakh and the Diaspora. The parliamentary elections in Armenia will be held in early March. According to the reformed Constitution, the president is elected by the parliament with 3/5 votes. In the case of the second and subsequent rounds, the qualification for election is reduced. The authority of Serzh Sargsyan expires on April 9.

ArmInfo. The shift of power is the first step in realizing the radical reforms that have been long overdue in Armenia. Armen Martirosyan, deputy chairman of the Heritage party, expressed such a view to ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. On January 22-24, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will pay a working visit to France - Paris and Strasbourg.

ArmInfo. The Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Piotr Switalski, declined to comment on the candidature for the presidency of Armenia presented by the head of the Republican Party, acting President Serzh Sargsyan.

ArmInfo.

ArmInfo. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan sent a telegram of condolences to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the occasion of the burning of a passenger bus in Aktobe region Kazakhstan, which caused the death of Uzbek citizens.

ArmInfo. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met with a group of representatives of the intelligentsia. ArmInfo was informed about this in the press service of the Armenian leader.