JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has given Armenia a $200m loan to buy Russian-made weapons for its military, media reported quoting Ara Nazaryan, the Armenian deputy defence minister. Russia is Armenia’s closest ally in the region. It is still officially at war with Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s railway network said it would cut the cost of freight across its network by 20% to try and boost traffic, media reported. Georgia is an important link between Europe and Asia but freight traffic on its railway has dropped slightly this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has bought four SU-30 fighter jets from Russia, media reported quoting a senior Kazakh airforce commander. Kazakhstan has said that it wants to bolster its armed forces.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia said one of its soldiers had been killed in a shootout with Azerbaijan around the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan sporadically clash around Nagorno-Karabakh where a shaky 1994 ceasefire maintains a fragile peace.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s economy ministry said that electricity prices may have to rise by 12% this year, media reported. Electricity prices have become an issue in the region because a proposed rise in Armenia has sparked street demonstrations.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Georgia’s government launched an investigation into the causes of a flood this month that killed at least 20 people, injured dozens more, flooded the city’s zoo and destroyed hundreds of buildings.
Local pressure groups, though, criticised the authorities for their slow response to the worst natural disaster to hit Tbilisi in living memory. This criticism could sting the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and damage their already fragile public support.
Nick Davitashvili, from the environmental activist group Guerilla Gardening Tbilisi, said: “The response by the government left a lot to be desired. Volunteers had to take on part of the relief efforts.”
Muddy, destroyed cars still lay around Heroes Square in the centre of the city more than week after the flood on June 14.
Immediately after the flood, thousands of volunteers shovelled mud and donated clothes and medicine to tho. The government, though, has now said that volunteers’ role is over.
“The risks are increasing and we are worried about the young people,” PM Irakli Garibahsvili said.
The ministry of environment has said that it is looking into setting up an early warning system for future disasters but the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network, the country’s largest environmental NGO said that this was an attempt to deflect responsibility for the flood.
“No disaster threat analysis, or preventive measures, have been conducted in Tbilisi for 15 years,” it said in a statement.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament approved a plan to sell off the government owned Post Office. Armenia needs to update and modernise its Post Office which has 3,000 employees and 250 branches across the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 21-25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – YEREVAN — In an often tense standoff with police, thousands of people demonstrated in Yerevan this week against electricity price rises.
A Bulletin correspondent estimated that the protest had swelled to around 8,000 people by Thursday evening, the biggest anti-government demonstration in Armenia for a generation and one that could pose a serious threat to the authorities.
On Tuesday, the second day of the protest, police fired water cannons and detained more than 200 people as they tried to clear Freedom Square in the centre of the city. The assault, though, just appeared to strengthen protesters’ resolve.
“Our demand remains the same and we will not leave Baghramyan Avenue until the illegal decision on electricity price hike will not be annulled,” said Aram Manukyan, an activist.
Hundreds of protesters have camped out overnight since and called for the 17% electricity price rise to be repealed.
This is the third price rise in two years. RAO UES, the Russian company that owns Armenia’s electricity network, said it needed to increase prices because of the fall in the value of the Armenian dram which makes imports expensive.
The price raises are particularly painful because Armenia, like other countries in the region, is having to deal with a drop in its economic prospects.
Protesters had started to gather in central Yerevan on Monday, June 22, in anticipation of parliament approving the electricity price rise two days later.
The next day, police turned their water cannons against the demonstrators and waded into the crowd, detaining people trying to stage a sit-in.
Since then, the crowds of protesters have swelled but been peaceful.
PM Hovik Abrahamyan said that the protests were misguided.
“Blocking one of the major prospects in the city will not lead to any success. I call on the activists to get back to constructive dialogue,” he said.
In 2008, eight people died in Yerevan when soldiers fired on anti-government demonstrators.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek officials signed a protocol with their Chinese counterparts to extend their economic cooperation, media reported. The deal was signed by Chinese and Uzbek government officials in the Chinese city of Rizhao where the two governments had been holding a third intergovernmental meeting.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gazprom wants to raise the price that consumers in Kyrgyzstan pay for their gas, local media reported quoting the director-general of its Kyrgyz subsidiary, Bakyt Abildayev.
This is a particularly sensitive topic because of tense street protests in Yerevan, triggered by the Russian-owned Armenian electricity distributor which wants to raise prices.
“We cannot endlessly subsidize gas industry. I propose to develop a new pricing policy for [the next] three to five years,” Mr Abildayev said.
When Gazprom bought the Kyrgyz gas distribution network in 2013 it was bankrupt and badly needed investment. Gazprom paid a token $1 for the network and promised much needed investment and also to keep prices low. This pleased ordinary Kyrgyz and also the government. It was interpreted as a sweetener as the Kremlin extended its influence over Central Asia and brought Kyrgyzstan into its Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)
Now, though, the situation has changed. Kyrgyzstan has signed up to the EEU and cash is tighter in Russia. The collapse in energy prices has hit Russia hard.
Perhaps this is why, with their allegiance guaranteed, Russia is now looking to increase the price it charges consumers for electricity and gas in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyz politics often plays out on the street. If Mr Abildayev is serious about increasing gas prices in Kyrgyzstan, he should probably expect a reaction.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)