Armenian soldier commits suicide, opposition speaks on tense situation on border, 25.05.21 digest

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 25.05.21:

'ARMENIA' BLOC

'Armenia' blog members, headed by Armenian ex-president Robert Kocharyan, held a press conference on Tuesday ahead of snap parliamentary elections scheduled for June 20.

During the press conference, Kocharyan spoke about the delimitation process in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

According to him, 'at the moment, delimitation may create some problems in the negotiation process over Nagorno-Karabakh.'

"The hurriedness which the Azerbaijani side is showing is connected with this very issue. This delimitation will have an impact on the negotiation process on the Karabakh issue. In general, there is no need to be too afraid of delimitation; it's just that it’s a quite problematic issue now," Kocharyan noted.

Kocharyan also noted that Armenia must show that it will not be subjected to such pressures.

"As long as they [the Azerbaijanis] have expectations of additional concessions from Armenia on some issues, they will create hotbeds of such tension; will exert pressure to achieve their goals," he noted.

The press conference was also attended by the leader of the opposition Reviving Armenia Party, former governor of Syunik Province Vahe Hakobyan.

He spoke about the Armenian-Azerbaijani border issues, noting that Azerbaijani troops advanced along the length of the border two days.

According to him, the situation in Syunik Province remains stable and tense

SOLDIER

A fixed-term serviceman has committed suicide at one of Armenia’s military units.

The news was confirmed by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.

At around 5:45 pm on Monday, conscript Mkrtich Hovhannisyan shot himself in the head with the rifle registered to him at a military unit of Armenia and sustained a fatal gunshot wound.

A criminal case has opened into this incident and on charges of negligently causing a serviceman to commit suicide.

SHUSHI

The Azerbaijani authorities continue the course towards the systematic extermination of the Armenian heritage of the occupied Shushi.

The Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan at a plenary session discussed and adopted in the first reading the draft law 'On the city of Shusha - the cultural capital of Azerbaijan."

The bill provides for such issues as the creation of the State Reserve of the city in Shushi and a special fund associated with it.

In accordance with the document, on the territory of the city, preference will be given to environmentally friendly modes of transport.

QUAKE HITS GEORGIA

The seismological network of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) of Armenia on Tuesday recorded a magnitude-4.6 earthquake in Georgia.

The seismic activity was felt also in the Lori and Tavush provinces of Armenia—with a magnitude of 2 to 3.

COVID-19

As of Tuesday morning, 157 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 222,139.

Also, six more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 4,400 cases.

The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 259, the total respective number so far is 211,634.