NEWS.am digest: France Armenians hold protests at Azerbaijani football clash, latest on Beijing 2022

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 18.02.22:

BLINKEN, LAVROV

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accepted the invitation to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

According to US State Department spokesman Ned Price, Blinken had offered to meet with Lavrov, and Russia had stated the end of next week as the date for this talk.

The meeting will take place in Europe—and on the condition that there will be no future invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Price said.

If the Russians invade Ukraine in the coming days, it will become clear that they have never taken diplomacy seriously, he added.

UKRAINE

The Foreign Policy wrote an article covering the Ukrainian crisis and referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Turkey, as of 2021, is the largest foreign investor in Ukraine, with $4.5 billion in annual investment—and trade between the two countries totaling over $5 billion.

During their recent meeting in Kyiv, Erdogan and Zelenskyy signed a free-trade deal that they say will boost trade to $10 billion and vastly expanded defense cooperation.

ALIYEV

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is expected to visit Moscow next week, an informed source told Turan News Agency, the latter reported.

The visit is expected to become a new milestone in the development of Azerbaijani-Russian relations, as well as in the strengthening of regional security.

Aliyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin last communicated by phone on January 18. They exchanged views on Ukraine—and in the context of the Azerbaijani leader’s January 14 visit to Kyiv where he had held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

ARMENIAN PROTESTS

French club Olympique de Marseille hosted Azerbaijani club Qarabag in the Round of 32 of the Europa Conference League, and they won 3-1.

During this football match, the Armenians of Marseille carried out a protest action. They waved the national flags of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Also, they held banners that read, "Qarabag/Artsakh is Armenia," "Azerbaijan is a criminal country," and "Shushi, not Shusha."

KARABAKH PARLIAMENT

At its special sitting Friday, the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) parliament unanimously passed the draft law on occupied territories.

The bill was adopted by 30 votes in favor, and all the MPs in attendance voted in its favor.

The adopted law defines the relations related to the legal status of the Azerbaijani-occupied Artsakh territories and the special legal regime applying to them, the peculiarities of the activities of state and local governments and organizations, human and civil rights and freedoms, as well as the protection and defense of rights and interests of legal entities.

ARMENIAN FM

World leaders converge this weekend on Germany for the annual conference which will be dominated by the Ukraine crisis as major Western powers warn the Kremlin looks close to launching an invasion.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will also attend the forum.

The FM is scheduled to hold a series of meetings with his colleagues.

KOCHARYAN

The social media users are discussing the latest interview of Armenian ex-president Robert Kocharyan who proposed to nominate a spiritual leader for the president’s post.

He noted that one of the spiritual leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who enjoys universal respect, should be nominated “if we want to have an impartial president who will be guided only by the national interest.”

METAVERSE

Gartner reported that by 2026, 25% of people will spend at least an hour a day in the Metaverse for work, shopping, education, communication, and entertainment.

BILL GATES

Microsoft founder Bill Gates believes that the omicron strain of COVID-19 will be the last acute phase of the pandemic and lead to its end. His remarks came in an interview to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

He expressed fears that everyone will soon forget about this pandemic and switch to other crises.

GOT

The Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon filming has been wrapped in the UK, the Deadline reported.

HBO and HBO Max content director Casey Bloys told the publication that talks are underway with the series' team to determine when to release the project. The manager acknowledged that the company was in no hurry to announce the premiere date due to fears that the pandemic could affect the progress of the show and the release would have to be postponed.