Putin abandons plan to expel US diplomats in tit-for-tat response

December 30, 2016 By administrator

In a head-spinning turn of events on Friday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia announced that he would not retaliate against the United States’ expulsion of Russian diplomats and new sanctions — hours after his foreign minister recommended doing just that.
Mr Putin, apparently betting on improved relations with the next American president, said he would not eject 35 diplomats or close any diplomatic facilities, a proposed tit-for-tat response to actions taken by the Obama administration a day earlier.
In an announcement on the Kremlin’s website, Mr. Putin said he did not want to deprive children of access to a recreational area on an island in the Moscow River that his foreign minister had recommended closing. He went one step further, inviting all children of American diplomats accredited in Russia to celebrate the New Year and the Russian Orthodox Christmas with him at the Kremlin. (Their parents are presumably welcome; no date was announced.)
The switch was remarkable, given that the foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, had just made the recommendation in remarks broadcast live nationwide, and given the long history of tit-for-tat expulsions between the two countries. Both the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation have traditionally been sticklers for diplomatic protocol.
On Thursday, the Obama administration declared 35 Russians suspected of being intelligence operatives “persona non grata”; imposed sanctions on two of Russia’s leading intelligence services; and penalized four top officers of one of those services, the powerful military intelligence unit known as the G.R.U., because of its efforts to influence the presidential election.
As part of the punishment, the State Department said that it would close two waterfront estates — one in New York, the other in Maryland — that it said were used for Russian intelligence activities. It was not clear, however, whether the two properties were a base for the election-related hacking.

Iran gives adequate response to Azerbaijan

December 2, 2015 By administrator

Orientalist, expert on Iran Armen Israelyan in his comments to Panorama.am discussed Iran’s reaction to the events in Azerbaijan and the recent developments in relations between the two countries. He said:
“Iran’s Gafgaz.ir reported that at a press conference on December 1, MP of the Iranian Majlis Ebrahim Neku condemned the recent bloody clashes in Azerbaijan’s Nardaran settlement that left five faithful and two policemen dead and called for an immediate end to repressions against Azerbaijani Shias and detention of those guilty.

The Iranian MP said Iran must not remain indifferent to the great crisis in Azerbaijan.

The relative calm in Iranian-Azerbaijani relations has been disrupted again, which means that there are issues that the Iranian side considers very sensitive, no matter how much the sides try to show that bilateral relations are developing normally.

A few days ago when members of Iran’s Turkic-language population were staging protests over a humorous program, which was broadcast by Iran’s state television and hurt the dignity of Atrpatakan residents, some deputies of Azerbaijani Milli Mejlis, as well as circles operating with direct or indirect support of the authorities, and websites under their control began meddling into Iran’s internal affairs by putting the terms “35 million Azerbaijanis of Iran” and “Southern Azerbaijan” into circulation.

After the bloody clashes in Nardaran largely populated by Caucasian Persians (Tats), Iran is launching a counterattack. In additions to the abovementioned Iranian MP, severe criticism was leveled at Azerbaijan by religious leaders of Eastern Atrpatakan and Ardabil Provinces such as Ayatollah Mojtahed Shabestari, Ayatollah Seyyid Hasan Ameli, and deputy head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iranian Mejlis Mansour Haqiqatpour.

It should be noted that the Iranian authorities take a mixed stance regarding Azerbaijan – in contrast to the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s current leaders refrain from adopting a tough position on the Azerbaijani issue, but religious figures have a different approach.

“Religious diplomacy’ is one of the key components of Iran’s foreign policy concerning the countries populated by Shias. Iran aims to weaken to the so-called ‘Saudi Wahhabism’ and ‘Turkish Sunnism’ in Azerbaijan.

The unprecedented visit of Iranian high-ranking cleric Ayatollah Noori Hamedani to Azerbaijan in September of this year was part of the “religious diplomacy”.

It is noteworthy that Iranian mass media compares the Nardaran events with the initial stage of the Islamic Revolution in Iran 35 years ago. During that period, even a movement called ‘Khomeinichilar’ was formed in Nardaran.

The priorities of Iran’s foreign policy include strengthening of Shiism and the export of the Islamic Revolution. This policy of Iran has different manifestations in various Shia countries. As regards Azerbaijan, one of the Iranian policy’s goals is to carry out an Islamic revolution there, if not now, then in the future”.

Russia says has right to military response after jet downing

November 27, 2015 By administrator

Russian lower house speaker Sergei Naryshkin. (Photo: AP)

Russia has the right to make a military response after the downing of a Russian warplane earlier this week by NATO member Turkey, lower house speaker Sergei Naryshkin said on Friday.

Speaking in an interview with Romanian television station Digi24, Naryshkin, who spoke in Russian and was translated by the broadcaster, said: “This is intentional murder of our soldiers and this deed must be punished.”

The shooting down of the Russian warplane by the Turkish air force on Tuesday was one of the most serious clashes between a NATO member and Russia, and further complicated international efforts to battle Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

“We know those who did this and they must be judged. At the same time, the response from the Russian side will surely follow, in line with international law. And aside from this, Russia has also the right to military response,” added Naryshkin, who was attending a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) in Bucharest.

Naryshkin, who said economic measures against Turkey might be on the cards, said Moscow had allocated additional military resources on Thursday to boost the security of Russian warplanes.

“Even yesterday, military resources were allocated, (for) the S400 Triumph, which is the most advanced missile defence system, with the role to maintain flight safety of Russian planes, of our military and air forces whose task is to destroy terrorist infrastructure of the so-called ISIL and other organizations operating in Syria.”

World leaders have urged both sides to avoid escalation, and China’s Foreign Ministry added its voice to that on Friday.

On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was quoted as saying, Russia should apologise for violating Turkey’s airspace.

Armenian Defense Minister: Our response to enemy will be a little incommensurate

November 14, 2014 By administrator

Although Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh had announced the military exercise, Azerbaijan, as always, showed its face, violating the international law, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters on the sidelines of the “Unity 2014” joint operational and tactical military exercise of the Armed Forces of Armenia and Artsakh, while commenting on the downing of a Nagorno-Karabakh helicopter by Azerbaijani forces, according to Yerkir.am.

“This incident is painful for us, it was an insolent act, and our response will be adequate and a little incommensurate,” said the Minister.

Asked by Yerkir.am what steps are being taken to approach the helicopter, Mr Ohanyan said that they got in touch with the Azerbaijani military leadership with the mediation of international organizations and added that other measures are also being taken in that direction.