A Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. During the meeting, the Prime Minister referred to the border position determination activities underway in Syunik.

“Work is currently underway in Syunik region to determine border positions. There are specific problems there. We are convinced that those efforts should be conducted and they are necessary in terms of ensuring the security of Syunik and Armenia, in general. At least, our position and the position of the Ministry of Defense is that despite the fact that these works may give rise to various interpretations, they in fact form a new system for guaranteeing the security of Syunik and Armenia.

There are two settlements where some questions may arise. I mean the villages of Vorotan and Shurnukh, where there are certain border issues on which daily work is being carried out. These questions can lead to painful situations, but I want to assure that in any case the Government will unequivocally provide full compensation if questions arise in the context of our citizens’ interests, and the interests of our citizens will be fully protected.

There are lots of controversial interpretations in this regard. Just a single case can trigger hundreds of publications and comments made from different perspectives, which can give an impression of massive developments. I would like to reiterate that there cannot be question of conceding a single millimeter from Syunik and Armenia’s internationally accepted and recognized borders. On the other hand, this does not mean that the ongoing process should be considered as demarcation and delimitation of boundaries: this is a completely different matter,” Nikol Pashinyan noted.

The Premier next touched upon the problem of prisoners of war and missing persons, noting that the Government’s primary task is the repatriation of POWs, the identification of missing persons, and the Armenian government is working in this direction on a daily basis.

Deputy Chief of Police Ara Fidanyan presented details of a draft law under development that provides for the abolition of fines for such administrative offenses under a number of articles of the law on road safety as committed by citizens of Armenia and Artsakh in the period from September 27 to December 27.

The Government approved a New Year event for preschool children in Artsakh, which is meant to help children born in Artsakh after January 1, 2015 on the occasion of the New Year. The beneficiaries are those children registered in Artsakh as of December 23, 2020, who were born after January 1, 2015. A lump-sum assistance of 20 thousand drams will be provided to each child featuring on the lists provided by Haypost and Artsakhpost companies.

The Prime Minister also referred to the activities aimed at resuming normal life in Artsakh and gave details of the implementation process.