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RFE/RL Armenia Report - 01/18/2011

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  • RFE/RL Armenia Report - 01/18/2011

    Tuesday, January 18, 2011

    Armenian Utility Posts Soaring Profits Despite Drop In Power
    Generation

    Armenia -- A power distribution facility.

    18.01.2011
    Sargis Harutyunyan, Ruben Meloyan

    Armenia's Russian-owned national power distribution company, once a
    big drain on state finances, claims to have become increasingly
    profitable in recent years despite a sizable reduction in domestic
    electricity production shown by official statistics.


    Financial documents provided to RFE/RL's Armenian service by the
    Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA) on Tuesday show the company
    making 25.1 billion drams ($69 million) in profits last year, sharply
    up from 16.7 billion drams posted in 2009 and 11 billion drams in
    2008.

    The figures indicate a remarkable turnaround in the ENA's
    operations. The power grids incurred significant financial losses,
    estimated at $50 million each year, before being sold by the Armenian
    government in 2002 to Midland Resources, an obscure British-registered
    firm. Most of them were believed to have resulted from widespread
    theft among various-level employees of the network.

    ENA, which is now one of Armenia's largest corporate taxpayers, has
    undergone significant restructuring and received large-scale capital
    investments since then. Midland announced that it has ended the losses
    and moved the company into profit in 2004, before selling it to a
    subsidiary of Russia's RAO Unified Energy Systems (UES) power giant.

    ENA profits have soared despite dwindling electricity production in
    Armenia. According to the National Statistical Service (NSS), it was
    down by 9 percent and 14 percent in January-November 2010 and 2009
    respectively.

    Besides, the price of electricity for Armenian households, has not
    changed significantly for over a decade, suggesting that the increased
    ENA earnings were the result of a greater efficiency of power
    distribution. The price was raised from 24 to 30 drams (8 U.S. cents)
    per kilowatt/hour in early April 2009, the first such increase
    approved by state utility regulators in eleven years.

    ENA's parent company, Inter RAO UES, decided on Monday to replace
    ENA's longtime chief executive, Yevgeny Gladunchik, by another Russian
    official. An Armenian pro-opposition newspaper claimed the next day
    that Gladunchik will return to Russia because an ind ependent audit of
    ENA books uncovered large-scale financial abuses.


    Armenia -- Yevgeny Gladunchik, former CEO of the Electricity Networks
    of Armenia.

    An Inter RAO UES spokesman, Nikolay Gorelov, flatly denied this,
    however, saying that Gladunchik was promoted to a higher company
    position in Moscow. `If a person does a bad job, he can't be
    promoted,' he told RFE/RL's Armenian service. `On the contrary,
    [Gladunchik] has achieved big successes, as a result of which Inter
    RAO UES decided to transfer him to its head office.'

    Armenian electricity tariffs have remained largely stable despite a
    steady rise in the price of Russian natural gas supplied to
    Armenia. It is used for generating roughly one-third of the country's
    electricity.

    The gas price rose by 14 percent in 2009 and by another 17 percent, to
    $180 per thousand cubic meters, in April 2010. The Russian monopoly
    Gazprom plans to raise it further starting for next April.

    The Armenian government said late last month that it still hopes to
    prevent the price hike. But in an interview with the German magazine
    `Der Spiegel' this week, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller insisted that the
    gas tariff for Armenia will reach a `market-based' level in the near
    future.

    Gazprom currently sells gas to Europe at an average of $300 per
    thousand cubic meters.

    The increased cost of the gas, the main source of winter heating for
    Armenians, has caused gas consumption in the country to fall at an
    annual rate of about 20 percent since 2008. Analysts say it will dip
    further if Gazprom presses ahead with its plans.

    A Gazprom spokeswoman, Olga Moreva, made clear on Tuesday that this
    will not deter the state-owned conglomerate. `The only thing we take
    into account is the oil basket peg,' Moreva told RFE/RL's Armenian
    service. `We set prices for our consumers abroad on the basis of
    that.'



    Council Of Europe Official Concerned About Jailed Armenian
    Oppositionists

    Armenia -- Opposition supporters demonstrate during a visit to Yerevan
    by Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human
    rights, 18Jan2011.

    18.01.2011
    Ruzanna Stepanian

    Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human
    rights, expressed concern about the continuing imprisonment of
    Armenian opposition members on Tuesday as he began a fact-finding
    visit to Yerevan.


    Hammarberg held separate meetings with Defense Minister Seyran
    Ohanian, opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian, human rights
    campaigners and representatives of Armenia's leading media
    associations on the first day of the three-day trip. He is also
    scheduled to meet with President Serzh Sarkisian, other senior
    government officials and leaders of the political parties represented
    in the Armenian parliament.

    The discussions were expected to focus on the Armenian authorities'
    human rights record and, in particular, their compliance with
    resolutions adopted by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly
    (PACE) following their 2008 post-election crackdown on the
    Ter-Petrosian-led opposition. The PACE demanded the release of all
    oppositionists arrested on `seemingly artificial or politically
    motivated charges' and an objective inquiry into the March 2008 deadly
    clashes in Yerevan.

    `Of course, I think it's a problem that there are still people
    imprisoned because of what happened in March 2008,' Hammarberg told
    RFE/RL's Armenian service, referring to about a dozen Ter-Petrosian
    loyalists remaining behind bars.

    Hammarberg planned to meet some of those oppositionists as well as
    relatives of people killed during the unrest. `We are concerned about
    the fact that ten people were killed during the demonstrations and so
    far no one has been held to account for that,' he said.

    Several dozen supporters of Ter-Petrosian's Armenian National Congress
    (HAK) demonstrated outside a Yerevan hotel where the Council of Europe
    official spoke with local human rights activists. Holding banners and
    chanting `Freedom!' they demanded that the Council of Europe exert
    stronger pressure on Yerevan.

    `We want our brother Hammarberg, if he is our brother, to demand
    legitimate governance from these authorities in accordance with
    principles accepted in Europe,' said one protester.

    Ter-Petrosian has repeatedly accused the Council of Europe and the
    West in general of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in
    Armenia for geopolitical reasons. He has said Western powers do not
    want to undercut a government which they hope will solve Armenia's
    disputes with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

    The HAK's central office coordinator, Levon Zurabian, claimed that the
    Council of Europe and the European Union are now running out of
    patience with the Sarkisian administration because it has still not
    complied with the PACE resolutions. `We can say that the international
    community is again becoming active on this issue,' he told RFE/RL's
    Armenian service.

    Hammarberg was cautious in assessing that compliance, though. He said
    he will draw conclusions only after the trip.



    Greece, Armenia Slam Turkey

    Greece -- President Karolos Papoulias (L) greets his Armenian
    counterpart Serzh Sarkisian in Athens, 18Jan2010.

    18.01.2011

    Presidents Karolos Papoulias of Greece and Serzh Sarkisian of Armenia
    strongly criticized Turkey as they met in Athens on Tuesday.


    Papoulias told Sarkisian that the two nations were `butchered' by
    their common arch-foe in their past. `We were butchered by the same
    barbarian,' he said, according to the AFP news agency.

    Papoulias added that `many things have changed' since the early 20th
    century when the killings of Armenians and Black Sea Greeks in the
    Ottoman Empire occurred, and criticized a decades-old arms race with
    Ankara that has cost Athens billions of euros.

    `If we did not have the economic burden of arms balance we would not
    need the International Monetary Fund," 81-year-old Papoulias said. `We
    give the most money in NATO for armament, this is unfair for a people
    that is peaceful,' he added.

    Sarkisian, for his part, again blamed Ankara for the collapse of the
    Western-backed Turkish-Armenian agreements that envisaged the
    normalization of bilateral ties.

    He also said Athens and Yerevan support Turkey's membership in the
    European Union so long as it addresses its troubled past and forges
    `civilized partnership with neighbors.' `When Turkey meets European
    standards, we will have a more predictable neighbor,' he said.

    The Armenian leader criticized Ankara's stance on the Turkish-Armenian
    normalization in even stronger terms as he addressed the parliament of
    Cyprus on Monday. He proceeded to the Greek capital on a state visit
    the next day.

    One of the agreements signed during Sarkisian's trip to Athens calls
    for continued cooperation between the Armenian and Greek defense
    ministries. Sarkisian stressed the importance of that agreement at his
    joint news conference with Papoulias.



    Armenian `Oligarchs' Sue Opposition Paper

    Armenia -- Ruben Hayrapetian, one of three businessmen who have taken
    legal action against "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily.

    18.01.2011
    Irina Hovhannisyan

    Three of Armenia's wealthiest government-connected businessmen have
    filed a libel lawsuit against a pro-opposition daily that implicated
    them in criminal activity in Russia, it emerged on Tuesday.


    The legal action stems from a report that was published by the
    `Haykakan Zhamanak' daily in October and based on claims made by Smbat
    Karakhanian, a Moscow-based Armenian opposition figure.

    Karakhanian was quoted as alleging that Russian authorities suspect
    eight senior Armenian officials and businessmen, including President
    Serzh Sarkisian, of involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering
    and other grave crimes committed in Russia. Russian officials never
    confirmed that.

    Three of the implicated `oligarchs' -- Samvel Aleksanian, Ruben
    Hayrapetian and Levon Sargsian -- are now seeking a combined 7.5
    million drams ($20,500) in compensatory damagers for what they say are
    false claims amounting to defamation of character.

    `After we published that report they demanded a refutation,' said Anna
    Hakobian, the `Haykakan Zhamanak' publisher. `In a manner defined by
    law, our editor-in-chief Nikol Pashinian replied to them with a letter
    that presented the grounds on which the refutation will not be
    published.'

    `The grounds were that our source is confirming that such a
    conversation took place and that these names do figure [in Russian
    criminal cases,]' Hakobian told RFE/RL's Armenian service. He pointed
    to a follow-up interview with Karakhanian that appeared in the paper
    later in October.

    None of the plaintiffs could be reached for comment. All three men
    holding seats in Armenia's parliament have long faced opposition media
    allegations of illegal activity, electoral fraud and violence against
    government critics. Sargsian is particularly notorious for reportedly
    violent conduct.

    Armenia's best selling daily, `Haykakan Zhamanak' is known for its
    hard-hitting coverage of successive governments and strong support for
    the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK). Its editor, Nikol
    Pashinian, was one of the main speakers at anti-government rallies
    staged by HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosian following the February 2008
    presidential election. Pashinian is currently serving a highly
    controversial prison sentence for his alleged role in deadly
    post-election violence in Yerevan.

    The paper was already taken to court and fined 3.6 million drams in
    late 2009 for alleging that former President Robert Kocharian's
    younger son, Levon, provoked a drunken brawl in the United Arab
    Emirates.

    `This is yet another step against the newspaper, the instruments of
    which are now oligarchs,' Hakobian said, commenting on the latest
    libel suit. `If some people think they can make `Haykakan Zhamanak'
    cave in by initiating such a lawsuit against the newspaper and turning
    oligarchs against us ... I can guarantee that they won't achieve
    anything.'



    Press Review

    18.01.2011

    Lragir.am tries to explain why former President Robert Kocharian would
    want to return to the political arena. `One factor is a lust for
    power,' writes the online journal. `The guy just doesn't want to be
    far away from real power and is trying to come back as soon as
    possible. Another factor could be a sense of responsibility for the
    country. He [presumably] sees that Serzh Sarkisian is unable to govern
    efficiently, that there are problems on the domestic and external
    fronts, dangers hanging over state interests -- and regards the main
    opposition also as a danger -- and is therefore trying to return and
    rectify the situation. And finally, it could be that Robert Kocharian
    is simply concerned about his future.' Kocharian may be worried that
    Sarkisian could eventually `sacrifice' him, speculates the paper.

    `Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun' says that the Armenian authorities are
    doing everything to prevent civic and other non-governmental
    organizations from achieving any results. `Therefore, both our
    analysts and individuals coming up with civic initiatives must admit
    that solutions to all problems in Armenia hinge on one very important
    issue: the formation of a legitimate government,' the pro-opposition
    daily says, attacking those intellectuals who do not want to openly
    support the opposition. Their `neutrality' plays into the regime's
    hands and delays solutions to problems facing the country. `One must
    not be afraid of having political views because that is the
    constitutional right of all citizens and not just a privilege of
    politicians,' it says.

    `Hraparak' comments on nationwide rallies organized by businessman and
    politician Tigran Karapetian, whose ALM television will be taken off
    the air this week. `One can certainly argue over the numbers [of rally
    participants,] but the fact is that ALM has surprised us with its
    street activity,' editorializes the paper. `It's not that people are
    eager to see ALM remain on air. It's just that the extent of public
    disaffection is so great that anyone can now get people to take to the
    streets.'

    Interviewed by `Hayots Ashkhar,' a spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh
    President Bako Sahakian seeks to disprove Freedom House claims that
    Karabakh is `not free' anymore. Davit Babayan specifically dismisses
    the New York-based group's argument that none of the parties that
    contest the last Karabakh parliamentary elections is in opposition to
    the Stepanakert government. Babayan argues that the Karabakh
    authorities did not prevent anyone from contesting the polls which he
    says were free and fair. There are simply no parties opposed to them
    at present, he says.

    But as Gegham Baghdasarian, a former Karabakh parliamentarian, tells
    `Aravot,' the Freedom House characterizations are not quite
    unfounded. `There were fantastic conditions for our development and
    you have to be inept to achieve such results from that starting
    point,' he says.

    (Aghasi Yenokian)

    Reprinted on ANN/Groong with permission from RFE/RL
    Copyright (c) 2011 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
    1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
    www.rferl.org




    From: A. Papazian
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