US Department of State called on parties to Karabakh conflict to try to refrain from violence and to work through issues through peaceful means, Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said during the Wednesday briefing.

 UTair Aviation has opened a new flight from Krasnodar to Yerevan.

 Armenia is ready to submit proofs of Azerbaijan's sabotage to the OSCE Minsk Group, David Tonoyan, First Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia, told reporters commenting on the reports that Azerbaijani officials refute the fact of the sabotage.

 50 more speedometers will be installed in all over Armenia in 2014, Road Police officer Norik Sargsyan told journalists on Thursday. He said that this will allow to reduce the road accident rate.

 The Armenian Government is not yet going to sell the precious metals and stones kept in the State Treasury, Armenia's Finance Minister David Sargsyan said on Thursday.

 Government has adopted no decision to demolish the old building of Zvartnots Airport, Head of the Union of Architects of Armenia Mkrtich Minasyan told reports on January 23.  

 For tightening the struggle against shadow economy, the government of Armenia has decided to extend the list of the goods to be marked starting 1 April 2014. However, the final date of marking will be specified. 

 Armenia and Bulgaria to produce a feature film about the Nagorno-Karabakh war, President of the National Cinema Center of Armenia Gevorg Gevorgyan told journalists on Jan 23.

The Public Council (PC) of Armenia has not yet get answer either from the concessionaire of Zvartnors airport or Civil Aviation General Department regarding its proposals on intention of the authorities to demolish the old building of the airport, chairman of the PC, Vazgen Manukyan, said at its sitting. 

The Kurdish autonomy in Syria is the price Turkey is paying for Erdogan's adventurism, Director of the Oriental Studies Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Ruben Safrastyan said in an interview to ArmInfo.

The ongoing developments in Euromaidan and streets of Kyiv demonstrate that the Ukrainian constitutional and state system has stopped its existence. Any other assessments are mistaken because they are biased, Alexey Kolomiets, President of the Kyiv-based Center for European and Transatlantic Studies, has told ArmInfo.    

 The meeting of foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot lead to any results because of the recent Azerbaijani sabotage attack, political expert, Karen Bekaryan, told Arminfo correspondent. 

On January 18, a youth public interest group “I am Against!” organized a rally in Yerevan once again demonstrating that the new generation of Armenians tries not to repeat the mistakes of the older generation. The youth actively opposed the pension ‘reform’ initiated by the authorities that will lead to 6.6%-13% reduction of salaries in favor of the government. The reform is built on rather a doubtful perspective of getting back the pension payments in 30 years. In other words, people protest the authorities that have failed to meet the expectations of voters and not the idea of pension reform. The issue of non-confidence in the government is brought to a head by the young generation that no longer wants to bear the years-long robbery of the population and not by the parliament opposition that had discredited itself long ago.

The program on restoration of the Caucasian red deer population in Armenia is entering its crucial phase. 

Head of WWF Armenia Karen Manvelyan has told ArmInfo that the talks on acquisition of the Caucasian red deer are already underway. The rare species will be brought to Armenia from Russia and probably from Georgia and Iran, too. Manvelyan said that a total 15 deer (3-4 male deer and 11-12 female deer) will be acquired in June-July 2014. 

Construction of open-air cages for protection and breeding of the deer will be launched in Dilijan National Park in spring. He said that Armenia has already received the relevant equipment from Germany.  

The program on restoration of the population of the endangered species has had no analogues throughout the history of independent Armenia. The first offsprings of the Caucasian red deer will be released in 5 years. To note, this species is listed in the Red Book and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.  

The total cost of the program is about 500,000 EUR.

 The bear cub saved by WWF - Armenia settles in the Shikahogh reserve.

The bear cub was found in 2012. The WWF Armenian Office with the support of its German colleagues built a temporary shelter for the animal and hired a vet. Nursing the bear cub for 8 months, the specialists let it free in July 2013 attaching a radio neck collar to its neck. 

Talking to ArmInfo, Head of WWF- Armenia Karen Manvelyan said the bear cub called Masha spent the autumn in the Shikahogh reserve and hibernated in December. In March-April, environmentalists will be tracking the bear throughout the reserve. 

Earlier Manvelyan said that the data received from the radio neck collar could be used in a research.

 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received today Philippe Lefort, European Union (EU) Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in 
Georgia, who arrived in Armenia on a farewell visit.

As press-service of the president reported, Serzh Sargsyan expressed a deep concern over Azerbaijan's recent continuous provocations and ceasefire violations at the line of contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces. He emphasized that these incidents are a serious obstacle before a progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.  

To recall, Azerbaijani subversive groups attempted to penetrate into the combat positions of the NKR Defense Army in the area of Jraberd, the northeast of contact line of the Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces, on Jan 19-20 night, according to the Arstakh Defense Ministry. The attempts of subversive action were prevented. Junior Sergeant Armen Hovhannissyan was killed in the crossfire. Hovhannissyan was posthumously awarded Medal For Bravery. 

Orinats Yerkir Party assesses the second president Robert Kocharyan's statement as a claim to return to big politics, Mher Shakhgeldyan, Deputy Head of 
Orinats Yerkir Party, Secretary of OY Faction in the parliament, told reporters, Tuesday.

The parliamentarian is sure that the second president has enlisted the support of some politicians from Prosperous Armenia and ARFD parties. 

Shakhgeldyan recalled that the problems voiced by Robert Kocharyan existed in the country yet under his presidency, but these problems can be settled in case of consistent and efficient efforts. Earlier, the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan harshly criticized the government and prime minister for blaming the previous authorities instead of working. Afterwards, a number of Republicans made counter-statements. In response, the office of the second 
president disseminated a statement wherein it declared that 'young Republicans' suffer from amnesia.

Asked about the mechanisms to settle the problem number one of Armenia - migration, Shakhgeldyan said that creation of jobs is the major mechanism to reduce migration scales, and measures are being taken to this end.

He is sure that Armenia's accession to the Customs Union will also contribute to this process and help raising investments and creating more jobs in the country.

 It is necessary to create mechanisms to increase the Armenian public's trust in pension funds, Mher Shakhgeldyan, Secretary of Orinats Yerkir Party Faction, Deputy Head of Orinats Yerkir (OY) Party, told reporters, Tuesday. 

"Our stance on the mandatory accumulative pension system remains unchanged. I think, the citizens display negative attitude to the pension reform as they do not trust in pension funds, and not because they do not want to accumulate their pension for future," he said. 

To recall, the voluntary accumulative pension system was introduced in Armenia on Jan 1 2011. The system will become compulsory starting Jan 1 2014. According to the bill, the minimal pension in the country will be equal to the minimum wage, while the basic pension will total 150% of the minimum wage. The compulsory accumulative pension system will apply to the citizens born after Jan 1 1974 (the citizens below 40). Starting Jan 1 2014, 5% of their salaries will be transferred to their personal accumulative accounts. The government will transfer a similar amount (but no more than 25,000 drams). On 15 November the Republican Party boycotted the extraordinary meeting of the Parliament over the issue. 

Later on January 18, a 7000 action of protest was held in the Liberty Square against the pension reform with participation of representatives of four parliamentary factions: ARFD, Heritage, Prosperous Armenia and Armenian National Congress, as well as the public interest group "We are Against".

"We can not do work for Azerbaijan and Armenia. Everything depends on the conflicting parties", Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said at today's 
press-conference in Moscow.

"The meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Vienna is encouraging, but everything depends on the conflicting parties,"- he said and added that like other mediators, Russia is trying to assist in the dialogue on the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. "The co-chairs have certain preparations, the parties don't reject it, but demand additional efforts in order to come to an agreement. We are ready to assist, but we can not do this work for them, " - 
Lavrov said and added that, first of all, progress in the negotiations depends on the parties. 

 Russia has completed the delivery of Mi-35M helicopters ordered by Azerbaijan.

APA reports that Russia has delivered 24 Mi-35M helicopters to Azerbaijan ordered in September, 2010. Azerbaijan also purchased Mi-35M simulators to train pilot personnel.The delivery of Mi-35M helicopters ordered by the State Border Service was started in December 2011.

MI-35 helicopters are the modernized version of MI-24 helicopters. These helicopters can be used for fire support in ground operations, as well as evacuation and transportation of landing force and military cargo on board. These helicopters differ from their predecessors Mi-24 helicopters for speed, maneuvering capabilities, large arsenal of weapons and other qualities.