Russian soldier in Armenia detained in mass killing of local family

January 13, 2015 By administrator

A Russian soldier suspected of killing six members of in the same family in Armenia and wounding a seventh, an infant boy, has been detained on the Turkish border. The serviceman from Russia’s 102 Military Base went AWOL with his weapons Monday morning.

Six family members, including a two-year-old girl, were shot dead in Armenia’s second-largest city of Gyumri on Monday at about midday. The family’s only survivor, a six-month-old boy, was operated on for gunshot wounds in the chest and is currently in a stable yet serious condition, Interfax reported.

A criminal case has been launched, and serviceman Valery Permyakov, from a Russian military base in Gyumri, is suspected of the murders, as boots bearing his name were found in the house of the murdered family.

“In the house of the slain Avetisyan family, investigators found military boots, marked on the inside with the name Valery Permyakov, who serves at a Russian military base. The murder was committed with an AK-74,” Sona Truzyan, an official at Armenia’s Investigative Committee, told Interfax.

Earlier on Monday, at 6 am it was discovered that an armed serviceman was absent from his post, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that a search for the man was under way.

Investigators believe that the killings most likely arose in connection with a crime of passion, RIA Novosti reported.

The Russian Embassy in Armenia has expressed its condolences, saying in a statement that the two countries are working together on the case. Russian officials are providing all the necessary assistance to solve the crime as soon as possible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told his Armenian counterpart, Eduard Nalbandyan.

Armenian police searching for man suspected of killing Gyumri family

January 12, 2015 By administrator

YEREVAN. – Armenian police are searching for a serviceman of Russian military base Valery Permyakov suspected for murdering a family in Gyumri.

The suspect was on compulsory military service the Russian military unit that is deployed in Armenian city of Gyumri, police said.

In a statement released on Monday, police said they hope for assistance of the citizens and asked those obtaining information to share data about a man on the photo posted below.

As reported earlier, six members of one family were shot dead in Gyumri, a six-month-old baby was wounded.

Iraq, Kurdish tycoon, islamic state, fishy business!

November 22, 2014 By administrator

Kurdish Peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants in Zumar (photo: Reuters)

The landing of a mysterious Russian plane at Baghdad airport has added to suspicions that Islamic State is acquiring weapons through the illicit sale of oil, writes Salah Nasrawi.

The news was first broadcast by a Jordan-based television channel owned by an Iraqi Kurdish tycoon known for his involvement in dubious business deals. A Russian cargo plane carrying tons of weapons had reportedly landed at Baghdad airport on 2 November.

According to Al-Tagheir TV, the plane landed in Baghdad after being denied permission to land at Suleimaniya International Airport in the autonomous Kurdistan Region.

The delivery of weapons and ammunition to a country in a state of war would not have made the headlines, except that the story surrounding the plane started growing more mysterious after the Baghdad government distanced itself from the shipment.

The reports must have also raised concerns with the US administration, which is leading an international coalition to support Iraq in the war against the Islamic State (IS) terror group that has seized one third of Iraq’s territory.

Details about the plane and its cargo gradually began emerging, highlighting suspicions that the weapons on board may have been on their way to IS.

According to reports in the Kurdistan media, the Russian plane was approaching Suleimaniya when it was denied permission to land at the city’s International Airport, which is under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main parties in the region.

Kurdish media outlet Awene quoted the airport manager, Tahir Abdullah, as saying that permission to land was refused because the airport had no prior knowledge of the plane’s arrival.

Awene also quoted a PUK official, who said the plane was carrying 44 tons of weapons, including anti-tank rockets, guns and night-vision equipment.

Basnews, another Kurdish news outlet, quoted Atta Sarawi, a local Kurdish official, as saying the plane had been expected to land at the airport. “There was coordination in this regard, but there were communication problems with Baghdad. So the plane continued its flight to Baghdad,” Sarawi said.

A translated version of the Basnews story appeared on the Arabic news outlet Elaf on 12 November and quoted Sarawi as saying the weapons on the plane had been sent to the Kurdistan Region.

On 15 November, Basnews posted another story on its website, this one saying that the weapons “might have been sent to a senior Kurdistan Democratic Party official.” It quoted “unofficial” sources as saying that the pilot of the Russian “military plane,” which had started its journey from the Czech Republic, had told Turkish air traffic controllers in Adana in southeast Turkey that the plane’s cargo was a cigarette shipment bound for Iraq.

In Baghdad, Iraqi government officials kept silent about the plane and its cargo until the news leaks started, setting off a flurry of speculative reports. The Iraqi Ministry of Transport, responsible for civil aviation, said permission for landing at the capital’s airport was granted after the pilot informed the tower that the plane was running out of fuel.

“The decision to grant the plane permission to land was in line with the Chicago Agreement on International Civil Aviation in order to avoid the risk of its falling out of the sky,” the ministry said on 15 November.

It said the pilot was instructed to land on a runway used by the army. The plane then parked in an area under the Ministry of Defence’s control and the weapons were seized, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Transport.

Both the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government said they were conducting investigations into the case. Neither Moscow nor Prague, however, reacted to the news. The US military, which is involved in defending Baghdad airport and the control of Iraqi airspace, made no mention of the incident.

In yet another version of the story that was widely circulated on social networks and TV programmes, the weapons in the plane were being sent to a prominent Suleimaniya-based Kurdish businessman who is closely connected to the PUK, which is headed by Iraq’s former president Jalal Talabani.

According to these reports, the businessman, known to have made his fortune through illicit deals and contracts, is also accused of conducting trade with the IS terror group. A well-known Iraqi analyst told the Baghdadiya TV channel this week that the Kurdish businessman was also responsible for supplying IS with at least one shipment of pick-up vehicles that are now being used by the militants in their fight against Iraqi soldiers and the Kurdish forces known as the Peshmergas.

Another Iraqi television network, Al-Sharqiya, reported on its website that “several officials in a big Kurdish-owned mobile company, as well as their sons and a middleman close to one of the main [Kurdish] parties, are suspects” in the plane case.

Conspiracy theories now abound that the same entrepreneur runs the investment portfolios of the Kurdish parties and has business relations with top officials in the Kurdistan and the Baghdad central governments.

The shadowy role of businessmen in Iraq has grown since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. Many of these businessmen were involved in scams involving US reconstruction projects following the invasion, and before that, in the UN-led oil-for-food scheme during the rule of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Billions of dollars are believed to have been skimmed off the two programmes, going mostly into the pockets of businessmen and corrupt politicians.

Since it is hard to confirm such reports, some observers are demanding that the Iraqi authorities and the Kurdistan Regional Government end the secrecy surrounding the plane and reveal who ordered the shipment and what its final destination was.

Allegations surrounding the plane and its cargo are so serious that Kurdish Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani, referring to the case, said: “It is considered high treason.”

The disclosures come at a time when the Baghdad authorities and the Kurdish government have been gridlocked over oil, budgets and weapons delivery to the Peshmergas. The Obama administration has been putting pressure on both sides to resolve their disputes and work together to fight the IS terror group.

The Baghdad government suspended support for Kurdistan from the state budget, including the Peshmergas’ salaries, after its government started independently exporting oil produced in the region. Under an interim deal, the central government agreed last week to pay $500 million to the Kurdistan government from the state budget, while the Kurds will provide the Iraqi government with 150,000 barrels of oil per day.

On Saturday, Hawal, a Kurdish news outlet, said the Peshmergas are refusing to take part in the fight against IS unless their full salaries are paid. It quoted Dleir Mustafa, deputy head of the Peshmerags Committee in the Kurdish parliament, as saying that another precondition for the Peshmergas to fight IS is to allow direct weapons deliveries, rather than routing such deliveries through the Baghdad government.

Since IS captured Mosul and several other key Sunni-populated cities in June, there have been reports of Kurdish oil traders smuggling oil from IS-controlled areas in Iraq and Syria into neighbouring countries as far away as Afghanistan. According to Western intelligence reports, the smuggled oil is sometimes sold for as little as $20 per barrel.

The US Treasury Department estimates that IS takes in millions of dollars a month from oil sales. Other estimates range between $274,000 to $3 million a day. However, the trafficking may have been affected by US-led coalition air strikes on oil production and refinery targets in IS territory.

Last week, Kurdish Interior Minister Karim Sinjari disclosed that Kurdish security forces have arrested 11 individuals charged with smuggling oil with IS. Turkish officials have denied or downplayed reports about the smuggling of IS oil through Turkey.

Hawal reported last week that large amounts of money are being transferred through the Kurdish-controlled areas to towns taken by IS. It quoted Nouzad Barzanchi, head of the security department in Kirkuk, as saying that transactions were being made to people in Mosul and Shirqat, which are under IS control.

Baghdad media report that several bureaus in the capital are being investigated for transactions made to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and France. Iraqi intelligence believes that the beneficiaries of these transactions are connected with IS.

Some of the money being transferred through licenced exchange bureaus is believed to be payments for other smuggled goods, such as wheat, barley and cattle seized from farmers.

Corruption in Iraq has been endemic since the US-led invasion nearly 12 years ago. State officials have been acting as enablers for corrupt deals in a number of ways, and involving a range of businesses.

There have been reports of corrupt professionals and army officers selling arms and intelligence to IS and other terrorist groups, which later use these weapons and insider information to carry out attacks on government offices and security forces.

As in many previous cases of corruption, it may be many years before the secrets of the Russian plane are known. The revelations of the oil-for-weapons deals have, however, shone a spotlight on a number of deeply corrupt politicians, terrorists and dubious businessmen who are not only involved in stealing the wealth of the country, but are also banding together to destroy it.

source: al Ahram weekly

The West must offer Armenia incentives rather than decry its ties with Russia

October 15, 2014 By administrator

By Harut Sassounian
TheCaliforniaCourier.com

On October 10, after lengthy heated debates, Armenia signed a treaty to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), composed of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The agreement goes into effect on January 1, 2015, subject to ratification by parliaments of the four countries. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have also expressed an interest in joining the Union.

The intended objective of forming EEU is to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor across member states, and to implement a coordinated policy in the energy, industrial, agricultural and transport sectors.

Views of analysts on the merits of Armenia’s membership in EEU diverge depending on whether they are proponents or opponents of the country’s leadership. The arguments advanced by opponents of EEU include the possible loss of Armenia’s independence and isolation of Artsakh (Karabagh) through the establishment of customs checkpoints at the border. EEU proponents, on the other hand, are stressing Armenia’s geostrategic and economic interests. It remains to be seen which of these arguments will eventually prevail.

Meanwhile, there are some basic facts that are self-evident. Armenia has had long-standing and multifaceted links to Moscow going back to the Tsarist era, the Soviet Union, and today’s Russian Federation.

It is imperative to recall that the livelihood of hundreds of thousands Armenian migrants in Russia will be impacted by Armenia’s EEU membership, in terms of their ability to reside and work in that country. Furthermore, Armenian businesses would be able to expand their small domestic market, exporting their products with favorable tax terms to over one hundred million potential consumers in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Armenia would also serve as an easy gateway for foreign investors interested in entering the vast and complex EEU markets.

In the final analysis, three essential questions need to be raised on Armenia’s membership in EEU:

1) Given the ongoing Artsakh conflict and Azerbaijan’s multi-billion dollar military spending spree, which country has sold and will continue to sell Armenia advanced weapons to mitigate the growing threat from Baku? Not the Unites States, Great Britain or France, but Russia!

2) Which country can provide Armenia with desperately-needed natural gas at any price, let alone at subsidized prices? Russia and Iran to a lesser extent through a small pipeline.

3) Since Russia is Armenia’s largest trading partner, it makes more economic sense to have favorable tax terms with that country than with Europe. Not joining EEU would place Armenia at a serious tax disadvantage with devastating economic consequences.

While these are compelling reasons for Armenia’s decision to join EEU, no one should conclude that Yerevan has to remain exclusively in the Russian economic zone. Clearly, it is in Armenia’s interest to develop multilateral ties with the rest of the world, including Western Europe, North America, Middle East, and Asia. Armenian officials have repeatedly stated their interest in developing closer economic, political, and even military relations with Western countries, but not at the expense of Armenia’s historical ties with Russia.

Meanwhile, it would be far more productive if Western countries, particularly the United States, rather than urging Armenian leaders to cut off vital relations with Russia, would actually offer tax privileges and other incentives to their investors in Armenia, thus reducing Yerevan’s exclusive dependence on Russia. Similarly, U.S. criticism and warnings issued to Armenia for its commercial ties with Iran are manifestly counter-productive. It would be far more helpful if the Obama administration could muster the courage to press Turkey and Azerbaijan into lifting their joint blockade of the Armenian Republic which has been in effect for over 20 years.

In the light of the foregoing existential strategic and economic realities, Western countries would be better served to use carrots rather than sticks to help steer Armenia toward a more balanced relationship between East and West.

Russian, Kazakh and Belarusian leaders sign treaty on creation of Eurasian Economic Union

May 29, 2014 By administrator

Presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus — Vladimir Putin, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Alexander Lukashenko have signed a treaty on setting up the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The treaty will come into effect on January 1, 2015.

The presidents signed the document upon the results of the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Council at the level of state leaders in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, on Thursday.

Vladimir Putin noted that thanks to a common constructive approach, readiness and ability of each party to find compromises the three countries succeeded to settle many difficulties on this path and sign the document timely as it was planned before June 1, 2014.

“The Eurasian Economic Union will work on universal transparent principles clear for all, including on WTO principles,” Putin said. “This is a result of our joint work, close co-operation between the governments of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.”

According to the Russian leader, this document had brought the countries on an essentially new level of integration. “Preserving fully state sovereignty we ensure a closer and well-orchestrated economic co-operation and interaction,” he said.

Putin noted that this union accounted for one fifth of world gas reserves and about 15% of oil reserves in the world. The troika has a well-developed industrial base and a strong personnel, intellectual and cultural potential, the president added.

“The geographical position permits us to create transport, logistic routes of not only regional, but also global importance that permits to attract massive trade flows in Europe and Asia,” Putin stated.

All these factors give a guarantee of competitiveness of the new union, its dynamic development in a rapidly changing and complex world.

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has called for signing a treaty on the country’s joining the Eurasian Economic Union by June 15, 2014. A draft document has been prepared, Sargsyan said at a session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on Thursday.

The leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus replied with a proposal to consider this issue by July 1, stressing that Armenia should meet all the requirements imposed on the union’s members. In particular, Vladimir Putin believes the treaty on Armenia’s joining the EEU shall be approved and signed in the nearest time.

Kyrgyzstan also has all chances to join the EEU, the Russian president has stated.

“We’d like to ring in the New Year jointly with other members of the Customs Union,” Kyrgyzstan’s President Almazbek Atambayev said at the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Union Council on Thursday.

“Of course, a great work on preparing the relevant documents is ahead, and we are ready to help. Nevertheless, there are all chances to join our union in the soonest time,” Putin noted.

Russian, Armenian leaders to discuss Customs Union, Karabakh settlement in Moscow

September 2, 2013 By administrator

September 2, 2013 – 16:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The prospects of the Armenia-Russia cooperation within Customs Union and Unified Economic Space will be discussed during the September 3 Moscow-hosted meeting between both countries’ leaders, Russian President’s aide said.

“Development of international processes in the CIS, multilateral cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be discussed, as well as provision of stability in Transcaucasia, including the Karabakh conflict settlement efforts,” Yuri Ushakov said.

Earlier, Armenian as well as foreign experts were tying to forecast the agenda of a meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin. Some believed that the Armenian leader was expected to pick between the Customs Union and EU Associated Membership, choosing between Russia and Europe.

Thus, Sargsyan will have to persuade Putin that the economic element of the Association Agreement won’t lead to changes in the military and political sector of cooperation.

Other experts believe the Karabakh conflict settlement in the light of the oncoming presidential election in Azerbaijan to become the key issue of the meeting agenda.