“Haykakan Zhamanak” estimates that the higher prices of electricity in Armenia will translate into an annual extra expenditure of 50,000 drams (around $110) for the average Armenian family. The paper says that this will in turn reduce the purchasing power of Armenia’s population.
“Zhoghovurd” claims that the total debts of the Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA) exceeding $220 million mean that the company is on the brink of bankruptcy. “It can be said now that the Armenian authorities are faced with an impasse,” writes the paper. “They must either capitulate and carry out everything that is demanded by the ENA or launch bankruptcy proceedings against that company. There is no other option.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” also comments on the appointment of General Movses Hakobian, the commander of Nagorno-Karabakh’s army, as deputy chief of the General Staff of Armenia’s Armed Forces. The paper recalls recent speculation that Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian will become President Serzh Sarkisian’s handpicked successor after Armenia’s anticipated transformation into a parliamentary republic. It has also been speculated that Hakobian will replace Ohanian as defense minister in that case. However, the paper goes on, Sarkisian is now rumored to have changed his mind because of media controversies which Ohanian’s wife, Ruzanna Khachatrian, has recently caused with her public activities.
“Hraparak” wonders why all of these important government positions are held by natives of Nagorno-Karabakh. The paper too links Hakobian’s appointment with the possibility of Ohanian becoming president of the republic in 2018. It notes that Ohanian himself moved from Stepanakert to Yerevan ahead of the parliamentary and presidential elections of 2007 and 2008.
(Ruzanna Stepanian)