“Haykakan Zhamanak” claims that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov linked the implementation of Armenian-Azerbaijani confidence-building agreements to the acceptance of a Russian peace plan on Nagorno-Karabakh after talks with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian held in Moscow on Wednesday. The plan reportedly calls for Armenian withdrawal from some of the Azerbaijani districts around Karabakh. The paper notes that Yerevan insists that substantive talks on a Karabakh settlement should start only after the ceasefire regime in the conflict zone is reinforced with concrete safeguards envisaged by those agreements.
“Zhamanak” suggests that President Serzh Sarkisian’s upcoming visit to Moscow could have important implications for Armenian politics. The paper says that it will be a sort of “response” to Prime Minister Karen Karapetian’s January trip to the Russian capital. Karapetian was given a red-carpet reception on that trip. It claims that Sarkisian is worried about the apparent Russian support for the Armenia premier because it could complicate his ability to remain Armenia’s most powerful man in the years ahead.
“Zhoghovurd” reacts with skepticism to Armenian police chief Vladimir Gasparian’s pledge to combat vote buying during the April 2 parliamentary elections. “Everyone knows that it is representatives of the ruling HHK who hand out vote bribes, enjoy state sponsorship and are untouchable for the police,” writes the paper. It argues that law-enforcement authorities have rarely prosecuted them on corresponding charges.
“Aravot” comments on what it sees as an upsurge in populist rhetoric among Armenian election candidates. The paper goes on to criticizes opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian for forming an electoral alliance with former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian and former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian (officially called Ohanian-Raffi-Oskanian) but then taking a back seat in the bloc’s election campaign. It also dismisses as disingenuous the HHK’s and the government’s pledges to tackle corruption in earnest.
(Tigran Avetisian)