Russian long-range bombers strike ISIS from Iran’s Hamadan base

August 16, 2016 By administrator

long-range-bomber Russia’s long-range Tu-22M3 bombers delivered their first airstrikes on terrorist targets in Syria operating from an Iranian airbase. Moscow and Tehran signed a military agreement allowing Russian aircraft to station at Hamadan Airport in western Iran, Russoa Today reports.

According to the source, the long-range bombers with full bomb payload took off from Hamadan Airfield to attack Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and Al-Nusra Front facilities in Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor and Idlib provinces.

The strikes have eliminated five major terrorist weapons depots and training compounds in the area as well as three command posts and a big number of terrorists, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The long-range bombers were covered by Su-30sm and Su-35s jet fighters, which took off from Russia’s Khmeimim Airbase in Syria.

The number of military aircraft deployed at Hamadan Airbase has not been disclosed.

Russia replaced the European Union as a trading partner of Armenia

August 15, 2016 By administrator

russia-armenia-economy For the first time since the mid-1990s, Russia overtook the EU as a trading partner of Armenia in the first half of this year, the Armenian official statistics show.

The National Statistical Service (NSS) announced this month that Russia accounted for 26.4% of foreign trade of Armenia in this period, compared with the share of 25.3% in the EU.

The NSS said that the Russian-Armenian trade increased by 12.4% to nearly $ 600 million thanks to a near doubling of Armenian exports to Russia. Trade of Armenia with the EU member states increased by less than 2%.

The EU has become the largest trade partner of Armenia a few years after the breakup of the Soviet Union. It has since been the major supplier of industrial equipment, cars and some of the South Caucasus countries consumer goods. Europe has also been the main destination for Armenian export products, such as base metals and refined diamonds.

In the late 1990s, the EU would hamper already about a third of trade in Armenia with the outside world. The NSS figures show that this proportion has remained largely unchanged in the next decade.

In contrast, the share of Russia in the Armenian foreign trade declined steadily, to finish at only 11.5% in 2004.

These business models began to change slowly in 2012 amid an increase in Armenian food exports to Russia and falling international price of copper and other nonferrous metals, the main source of export earnings of ‘Armenia. The controversial decision of President Serzh Sargsyan in 2013 to join the trade bloc led by Russia, instead of signing a free trade agreement reaching with the EU, seems to have only accelerated this trend.

The commercial importance of Russia to Armenia has continued to increase, even after a sharp depreciation of the Russian ruble has caused a 18% drop in trade between the two countries last year. The fall of the commerce of Armenia with the EU was even stronger.

According to the NSS, EU exports to Armenia collapsed by over 30% in 2015, reflecting a decrease in consumer spending in the country, which in turn was caused, in large measure, by lower remittances from Armenians working in Russia, hit by a recession.

The first half of 2016, Armenian exports to Russia jumped nearly 90% to $ 168 million. Alcoholic beverages, prepared food and fresh agricultural products constituted the bulk of these shipments.

Russia has always been the main export market for food processing and agriculture of Armenia. The accession of Armenia to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) clearly more ease their access to this huge market.

In comparison, exports of Armenian non-ferrous metals other than gold, fell by over 10% between January and June. Even so, exports for the first half of Armenia to the EU have increased by nearly 12% to $ 230 million, which means that the EU remains the largest export market despite falling behind Russia in the overall foreign trade of the country.

Monday, August 15, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

According to Ohanian, Russia began to supply new weapons to Armenia

August 10, 2016 By administrator

weapon supply Russia began to provide Armenia with new weapons in accordance with defense contracts of several million dollars signed by the two allied nations, announced yesterday the Minister of Defense, Seyran Ohanian.

The Armenian government could pay with a loan of $ 200 million that Moscow had allocated a year ago.

The government had decided to accelerate the implementation of the agreement following the war four days in early April to Nagorno-Karabakh. It instructed the Armenian Ministry of Defense to quickly negotiate supply contracts with the relevant Russian government agencies.

“Almost all contracts have been signed and interstate procedures for their implementation have been completed,” said Ohanian reporters after inspecting the Armenian troops along the heavily militarized border with Azerbaijan.

“With the existing instruments and under the agreements concluded in the past, imports of Russian weapons are currently underway,” he said when he was in the Tavush region.

In late June, two relatives of Ohanian had traveled to Moscow for talks with senior officials of the Ministry of the Russian Defence, as well as members of the Russian government agency in charge of arms deals with foreign states, Rosoboronexport.

Ohanian did not specify the types or quantities of weapons that Armenia will buy the Russians, with prices set well below the international market level.

In February, Moscow issued a long list of Russian-made weapons that can be purchased for $ 200 million. It includes the multiple launch rocket system Smerch, the heavy rocket system thermobaric TOS-1A, anti-tank weapons and surface to air missiles to the shoulder.

In recent years, Russia has sold 18 Smerch launchers and many TOS-1A systems to Azerbaijan and more than 100 T-90 tanks, more than 30 combat helicopters and other offensive weapons. Deliveries of Russian arms to the enemy state of Armenia, worth at least $ 4 billion, came from contracts signed in 2010-2011.

Armenian leaders have intensified their criticism of Russian arms sales to Baku in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in April. The Russians have rejected these remarks, justifying that they supplied arms to Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to maintain “military balance” in the conflict. The Russian ambassador in Azerbaijan said last month that Moscow intends to sign new defense contracts with Baku.

Ohanian defended yesterday the military alliance between Armenia and Russia, insisting that the latter would defend the state of the South Caucasus in the case of “aggression” foreign.

Moscow and Yerevan have also negotiated last year the delivery of Russian Iskander missiles in the Armenian army. With a firing range of up to 500 kilometers, the sophisticated systems would make oil and gas infrastructure in Azerbaijan even more vulnerable to the Armenian missile strikes in the event of a large-scale war in Karabakh.

A general in the Armenian army had claimed in April that Armenia already had such missiles in its military arsenal. He had no official confirmation.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

Erdogan in Russia for begging Putin “Turkish economy in total claps”

August 9, 2016 By administrator

erdogan went begging Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in Russia on a visit aimed to rebuild ties. Erdogan is seeking to overcome a long history of dispute with Moscow and forge new alliances after the July 15 coup attempt.

Shortly after touching down in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Turkish President Erdogan said his country was entering a “very different period” in relations with Russia, and that solidarity between the two nations would help resolve regional problems.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was “glad” to be seeing Erdogan again.

“Your visit today, despite a very difficult situation regarding domestic politics, indicates that we all want to restart dialogue and restore relations between Russia and Turkey,” Putin said after the two leaders shook hands.

Turkey and Russia, which once described each other as strategic partners, have suffered disagreements, especially over their respective policies in the Syrian war, culminating in the infamous downing of a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian-Turkish border in late 2015. Erdogan, however, is hoping to leave the past behind, saying that the meeting in St. Petersburg would be a new beginning between him and his “friend Vladimir.”

“A new page will be opened in Russo-Turkish ties. This new page will include military, economic and cultural cooperation,” Erdogan told TASS ahead of the trip.

Russia has accepted Ankara’s expressions of regret over the downing of the warplane in the apparent hope of reconciliation while also reviving the relationship. Turkish officials have even detained the pilots of the Turkish planes that shot down the Russian jet on November 24, 2015, accusing them of being involved in the failed coup attempt.

In the long shadow of Turkey’s failed coup d’etat

The visit is Erdogan’s first foreign trip after the July 15 coup attempt, when a group of renegade Turkish military officers attempted to seize power leaving at least 230 people dead. Turkey has since blasted its Western allies for expressing concern over the scope of its ensuing crackdown on dissidents, complaining that the West has shown a lack of support for its democratically elected government. In contrast, Russia was quick to voice support to Erdogan after the failed coup without mentioning any concern about the crackdown.

A long history of disagreement

Russia reacted to the downing of its jet fighter with a ban on the sale of package tours to Turkey and an import embargo on Turkish agriculture, which Turkey countered by shelving a major Russian natural gas pipeline to Turkey. The bitter dispute even led Putin to declare that Erdogan had left modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk “turning in his grave.”

But relations between Turkey and Russia – two powers vying for influence in the region – have never been straightforward. Ties between the two nations can at best be described as a marriage of convenience.

Turkey’s predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia’s precursor, the Russian Empire, have fought three centuries of war, culminating in an armistice with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk at the end of World War I. Though the two powers didn’t exchange animosities during the Cold War they found themselves on opposing sides, with Turkey entering NATO and the Soviet Union forming the Warsaw Pact.

Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia cooperation possible alternative to new trilateral format – Suren Sargsyan

August 9, 2016 By administrator

In an interview with Tert.am, Suren Sargsyan, Teaching Assistant, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, says that Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia cooperation could be an alternative to the newly formed Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran format.

With the trilateral format in effect, Armenia should intensify cooperation with Iran because products manufactured due to Armenian investments, but not in Armenia, could reach Russia from Iran through Azerbaijan duty-free.

Mr Sargsyan, a new Russian-Iranian-Azerbaijani meeting took place in Baku yesterday. What is Armenia’s role? Will it not remain outside regional projects again?

In this respect, Armenia’s opportunities are restricted. We are not involved in certain regional projects for a number of subjective and objective reasons. First, our geopolitical situation is not favorable for Armenia to be a transit country for energy carriers and means of transportation. We have no outlet to the sea or open borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan, which prevents us from being properly involved in regional transport of energy projects. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is the only regional project we are involved in, and this is the reason for Azerbaijan not joining the EEU. If Armenia had a common border with the EEU or Georgia joined the EEU, Armenia would easily become a transit country connecting Iran and Russia. The Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia format could be an alternative. If Russian-Georgian relations improve and we can play a mediatory role, Georgia would also be interested in the quadripartite format because it remained outside the trilateral format. The Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia cooperation could be an alternative to the newly created trilateral format. Such an initiative is quite to the point and the scenario is a viable one. With the trilateral format in effect, Armenia should intensify cooperation with Iran because products manufactured due to Armenian investments, but not in Armenia, could reach Russia from Iran through Azerbaijan duty-free. And our business should be flexible and take the opportunity.

In your opinion, which of the states proposed the Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran format?

First of all, it is clear that the Russia-Iran-Azerbaijan format was Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s idea. It is also clear that the new format will be permanent, and the idea is based not only on economic, but also on geopolitical factors. As to Iran, international sanctions have been lifted, which implies that state is going to be a great regional power soon. In this respect, Russia and Azerbaijan have taken the right course, relying on this state of affairs. Of interest is the fact that this format was proposed along with Russia-Turkey reconciliation process. That is, Azerbaijan has proposed its idea to the world only after the two regional superpowers started a reconciliation process.

What is Russia’s benefit from this cooperation?

First, Russia cannot remain outside the regional process. Moreover, President Vladimir Putin has presented his ideas of the trilateral format’s agenda – at least in terms of Russia’s expectations. According to Mr Putin, the Three should be able to properly distribute the Caspian energy resources, give impetus to the development of trade relations between the three states. Of paramount importance are also joint efforts to combat drug trafficking and international terrorism. It is a highly important wording as all the three states have become transit states for Islamists. We should not forget that ethnic Azerbaijanis constitute a large number of Islamic State gunmen, according to Russian media. By and large, however beneficial the format could be to Russia in economic terms, EEU development and expansion remains Russia’s priority. It is no coincidence at all that, in an interview a couple of days ago, the Russian president stressed that Iran could become the EEU’s major partner, and a new Iran-EEU cooperation agreement was most likely to be signed in the near future.

Matthew Bryza: Moscow tries to incite Karabakh conflict parties to new compromises

August 6, 2016 By administrator

Russia-karabakh The steps taken by Russia prove that Moscow is trying to bring closer the positions of the Karabakh conflict parties through mutual compromises, former U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza, told Voice of America.

According to him, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has put a new offer on the table, trying to review the framework agreement, which was drawn out with the help of the Minsk Group in Madrid back in 2007.

The Madrid principles have mainly remained unchanged during the last years, no radical changes having been made in the framework agreement, since it was the only logical way to solve the issue, the former diplomat said.

In Bryza’s words, the heads of Armenia and Azerbaijan had reached a principled agreement on the framework agreement and a final agreement was expected to be reached, this being followed by long-lasting talks aimed at drawing out the agreement.

However, according to him, the process didn’t advance, since neither President Aliyev nor President Sargsyan had sufficient confidence towards each other in order to inform the citizens about complex decisions.

He also noted that the crisis which took place in Yerevan in the recent weeks was first of all conditioned by the disagreement of the authorities round the possible compromises in Karabakh conflict.

The issue concerns new compromises, which will bring the parties closer, Bryza said. In his words, certain people in Armenia’s political system do not wish to make compromises, this resulting in the aforementioned crisis.

Minsk Group mediators not judges for Armenia, Azerbaijan – Nagorno-Karabakh official

August 5, 2016 By administrator

The OSCE Minsk Group, which acts as a mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, is not a judge for the conflicting parties to decide to the right steps, a spokesperson for the Nagorno-Karabakh president has said, commenting on the Russian president’s recent statement.

“And that’s what we repeatedly state. If the sides – namely, Azerbaijan – are not (and probably will not unfortunately ever be) ready for an agreement to resolve the problem, why should Russia impose any measure at all?” David Babayan told Tert.am.
In an interview with the Azerbaijani news agency AZERTAC, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is not going to offer “ready-made recipes” to Armenia and Azerbaijan to help resolve the conflict. Instead, he proposed the official Moscow’s support to any constructive proposal.
“We have so many times addressed the topic. So it [Putin’s statment] now comes as a clear proof of that. Hence, anyone who has common sense, logic and wit must guess and understand the processes under way,” Mr Babayan said.

Turkey, Riyadh, and Qatar ‘Responsible for Downing Russian Helicopter in Syria’

August 1, 2016 By administrator

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in northwestern Syria on Monday killing all five Russian servicemen on board. In an interview with Sputnik, Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos, Editor of Politics First Magazine, put the blame on an alliance of terrorist groups called the Army of Conquest and its suppliers.

“I have no doubt about that. They have in their possession advanced weapons. We are talking about tanks, other armored vehicles, antitank weapons and antiaircraft missiles. The question is who has supplied them with these antiaircraft missiles?” he continued, adding that they could have apparently been supplied by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.”

“Therefore, they are responsible for the downing of Russia’s Mi-8 helicopter, which was on a humanitarian mission in Syria, and for the death of all five Russian servicemen on board,” Marcus Papadopoulos continued.

Dr. Papadopoulos said that the Army of Conquest formed at the beginning of 2015 and after its formation it scored a major battlefield victory when it captured Idlib city in the north of Syria and the rest of the province.

“Its political and financial backers are Saudi Arabia and Turkey and even though Ankara may now be reconsidering its policy of supporting Islamist terrorist groups, Turkey is the major supporter of the Army of Conquest responsible for numerous atrocities in Aleppo with their artillery bombardment of civilians,” he noted.

https://soundcloud.com/radiosputnik/riyadh-qatar-and-turkey-responsible-for-downing-of-russias-mi-8-in-syria-marcus-papadopoulos

When asked that whether the downing of the Russian helicopter and the death of its crew will lead to the Army of Conquest losing its foreign sponsors or becoming officially recognized as a terrorist group, Dr. Papadopoulos said that “there is little chance of that happening because the Americans are supporting numerous other Islamist terrorist groups in Syria.”

He said that when in 2013 Daesh started to make its move in Syria there was no condemnation from the American government. It was only toward the end of that year when Daesh reemerged in Iraq and started posing a direct threat to the Western-backed Iraqi government that the Americans finally acted. Prior to that, they were only too happy to see Daesh advancing in Syria, capturing Syrian territories and committing atrocities.

“So there is no chance of the US listing the Army of Contest as a terrorist group,” Dr. Papadopoulos noted.

The downing of the Russian helicopter came shortly after Daesh posted a video where it called for waging a jihad against Russia.

When asked whether these two things could be connected somehow, Dr. Papadopoulos said that after Russia launched its antiterrorist campaign in Syria that actually turned the table in that conflict, it is now seen by Daesh, al-Nusra Front, the Army of Conquest and others as one of their main enemies.

Answering a question about the terrorists disseminating video accounts of their atrocities, Dr. Panadopoulos said that such photos and videos must be banned and that there should be censorship.

“I don’t really care what people in the West say about censorship being not in line with Western values of democracy and freedom of expression. There has to be a line drawn somewhere, that pictures of atrocities, beheadings, of bodies being dragged behind trucks should be prohibited on social media.”

“This would deprive the terrorists of a very important channel of recruitment. We have to fight them on the battlefield and we should also beat them on social media by banning their pages on Facebook and preventing them from uploading their appalling photos and videos,” Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos emphasized.

The downing of the Mi-8 has become the deadliest episode for the Russian military since it started bombing terrorist-held territories in Syria in September 2015.

Erdogan play hero by confronting US superpower ‘Make U-Turn Towards Russia’

July 21, 2016 By administrator

Turkey, your friend today your enemy tomorrow, always survive on muddying the region

One of the geopolitical consequences of the failed coup is that Turkey will ultimately turn its back on the EU and NATO and focus on the East, and Russia in particular; it will also adopt the Asian model of development, with a strong central presidency and a dominant single-party government, according to financial analysts.

The geopolitical and economic consequences of the failed coup attempt in Turkey will be its U-turn from the EU and NATO towards Eurasia, according to the Austrian financial newspaper Wirtschaftsblatt.

The outlet noted how carefully the Turkish leadership has been monitoring the delayed reaction of the West to the failed attempt of the overthrow.

Only on Saturday afternoon, it says, came the comments of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for the European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.

Its senior NATO ally, the US, was also mute for the first three or four hours.

However, the newspaper notes, Russian President Putin was the first to voice support for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During their telephone conversation on Saturday, the two leaders decided to put off their planned meeting until early August.

Timothy Ash, an emerging markets analyst at the Japanese banking giant Nomura, has told the newspaper that the events of the last weekend are groundbreaking for Turkey.

“The character and the face of the country will change towards the Asian model of development: a strong central presidency and a dominant single party government, like the one in Malaysia,” Wirtschaftsblatt quotes him as saying.

The analyst also suggested that Ankara will finally turn its back on the idea of EU membership, which de facto was dead after the Brexit referendum in the UK and the earlier Dutch referendum which overwhelmingly rejected the EU association agreement with Ukraine,

The last illusions will be dropped when the Turkish parliament reintroduces the death penalty. President Erdogan has already announced that this would happen.

Another motive for the rapprochement with Moscow, the newspaper says, is the Turkish Stream pipeline project and the Turkish interest in Russian nuclear power plants.

Additionally, it reasoned, gas supplies from Israel and Iran would help Turkey to position itself as a central hub between the East and the West.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has already condemned the coup attempt in the country. In a telepnone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Rouhani, he said that Iran has always stood behind the legitimate government in Turkey and that it will continue to do so.

Armenia looks to Iran to compensate for the suspension of Russian gas supplies

July 14, 2016 By administrator

gas iran It was announced Tuesday that Armenia has requested Iran to provide more natural gas at a one-month suspension of its gas imports from Russia, conducted via Georgia.

An operator of Georgian gas stopped deliveries of Russian gas to Armenia Sunday, citing the need for urgent repairs on a section of a Georgian pipeline extending to the Armenian border. The company announced that they will resume on 10 August.

Armenia buys about 80 percent of the gas used by its companies and its people to Russia. To compensate for the shortage, it was initially planned to use underground storage of gas just north of Yerevan.

However, the Armenian government decided to switch to emergency commands to Iran. Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan phoned Tuesday to Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, ask for a sharp rise in gas deliveries from Iran to Armenia.

“Iran responded positively to the Armenian demand,” said a government statement. He did not reveal the volume of emergency gas imports from Iran by Abrahamian and agreed Jahangiri.

Armenia has imported up to 500 million cubic meters of Iranian gas each year since the construction in 2008 of a gas pipeline from the Islamic Republic. By comparison, the Russian gas controls to the South Caucasus countries amounted to almost 2 billion cubic meters.

With Armenia paying the Iranian gas with electricity it is expected that Iran will triple its gas export to Armenia after the construction of a third transmission line connecting the two neighboring countries. Work on the line, estimated at $ 120 million, should be completed in 2018.