(Saturday, October 7)
“The joint Russian-Armenian military force has been operating since the 1990s,” Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian defense analyst, tells “168 Zham.” “But the two sides have decided to trumpet its existence now in order to deter their foes.” Those may well include Azerbaijan, he says. Felgenhauer also says that the importance of the Russian-Armenian force should not be overestimated.
“Zhoghovurd” says that it is still not clear just when and where the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are going to meet. “One can only presume that the meeting will take place before the end of this year because the international community seems very interested in achieving progress in the negotiation process,” writes the paper. “It will therefore seek to accelerate the process, also taking into account the fact that not much time is left until the end of Serzh Sarkisian’s [presidential] tenure.”
“Zhamanak” says that the parliamentary debates on the opposition Yelk alliance’s calls for Armenia’s exit from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) had less public resonance than last week’s reported brawl between Yelk’s Nikol Pashinian and Artashes Geghamian, a pro-government politician known for his pro-Russia views. The paper speculates that the authorities may have deliberately provoked the incident in a bid to overshadow the Yelk initiative.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that Ruben Hayrapetian, the controversial chairman of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA), is facing renewed calls to resign following the latest humiliating defeat of Armenia’s national soccer team. The paper reminds that two years ago Hayrapetian promised to step down if Armenia’s qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Russia ends in failure. “Hayrapetian did not specify, though, what he would consider a failure,” it says. “It may be that he and football fans have different ideas of failure.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
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