NEWS.am digest: Putin declares Eastern Ukraine regions independent; Putin invites Pashinyan toMoscow

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 22.02.22:

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

The Russian president signed a decree on Monday recognizing breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine as independent republics, telling Russia’s defense ministry to deploy troops into the two regions to "keep the peace.”

The president made the announcement live on TV after an emotional address in which he referred to eastern Ukraine as “ancient Russian lands managed by foreign powers”.

Announcing his recognition, Putin also signed treaties on friendship, cooperation and mutual aid with Donetsk and Luhansk leaders. The Federation Council has already ratified the treaty.

The Russian leader also took a swipe as Western powers which support Ukraine, saying, “they are not interested in peaceful solutions – they want to start a blitzkrieg”.....

INT. COMMUNITY ON UKRAINE

The international community reacted to the Russian president’s decision to recognize the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine as independent republics.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of continuing to fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine and “trying to stage a pretext” for an invasion.

The EU has also slammed the recognition noting that the EU and its partners will respond to this with unity, firmness and determination in solidarity with Ukraine.

The UN, in turn, noted that this decision is fraught with regional and international consequences. This came as the OSCE said that the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of the regions contradicts the Minsk agreements.....

COUNCIL

A meeting of the Armenian Security Council chaired by the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was held Tuesday.

The meeting was also attended by the Acting President of the country Alen Simonyan.

Issues related to overcoming the challenges facing Armenia and the processes taking place in the international arena were discussed at the meeting.

PUTIN, ALIYEV

Vladimir Putin had on Tuesday a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.

Before the talks there were reports that Russia intends to officially raise relations with Azerbaijan to alliance level.

The sides touched upon the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Putin noted that there are already certain agreements on the development of trade and economic ties.

“There are disputes, but we will do everything to ensure that the process proceeds peacefully,” Putin noted.....

EURONEST

The sessions of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (PA) committees took place in Yerevan Tuesday.

Maria Karapetyan, a member of the ruling majority Civil Contract, chaired the meeting.

One of the topics of today's discussion was an increase of Russia's military presence on the Ukrainian border.

Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine did not participate in the meeting.

However, two Azerbaijani MPs also attended the sessions in Yerevan. They were the only MPs who had entered the building with the security officers. One of them, Soltan Mammadov, seems to have a provocative behavior as his Twitter thumbnail reads: Karabakh is Azerbaijan.

And during the sitting, the MP noted that "the Karabakh conflict has been resolved within the international law and Azerbaijan's internationally recognized borders."

By the way, protests were being held since Monday in Yerevan since Azerbaijani MPs had come to Armenia.....

COVID-19

The health ministry today reported they had recorded BA.2 Omicron subvariant in Armenia.

The BA.2 is more contagious than the previous subvariant, and according to a number of studies, it may have a more severe course of the COVID-19.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Armenia has reached 416,510 and the death toll is 1,593....

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