“Zhamanak” is at a loss to understand why Russia’s Inter RAO company has sold the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) utility to Russian-Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetian just two weeks after asking the Armenian authorities to allow the ENA’s sale to a Cyprus-registered firm. The paper says Karapetian may be the real owner of that firm. It also notes the announcement that Karapetian’s Tashir Group will subsidize the electricity prices in Armenia jointly with the Armenian government.
“Zhoghovurd” describes as “noteworthy” President Serzh Sarkisian’s comments on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict contained in his speech at the current session of the United Nations General Assembly. “Sarkisian told the entire world from the UN podium that things cannot continue like this anymore,” says the paper. It notes that Armenian forces carried out “punitive operations” against Azerbaijani troops east of Karabakh after Sarkisian voiced similar threats in Yerevan late last week.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” says that in order to rein in Azerbaijan the Armenian leadership should not only order retaliatory military operations but also “sort out the domestic economy” and “restore public trust in the authorities.” “An army can achieve victories only in separate battles, whereas wars are won by states and their structures,” argues the paper. “What is Serzh Sarkisian doing instead? He has concentrated all state resources on constitutional changes. Instead of restoring public trust, he is selling one of the country’s main infrastructure facilities to an offshore company. Instead of establishing an atmosphere of national solidarity, he arrests young people handing out [anti-government] leaflets.”
“Hayots Ashkhar” reports that a yearlong decrease in the dollar-denominated value of cash remittances sent home by Armenians working in Russia is again accelerating due to a renewed depreciation of the Russian ruble. Citing data from the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), the paper says that the total amount of non-commercial remittances from Russia was down by as much as 44 percent in August.
(Tigran Avetisian)