Putin, Sargsyan discuss bilateral relations, electricity tariffs not discussed - Peskov

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday spoke over the phone with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan but the two leaders did not discuss the problem of electricity tariffs in that country, which caused mass protests, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday. When asked whether the tense situation in Yerevan in the recent days had been discussed by the two leaders, Peskov said, "In the context of bilateral relations." "The conversation mainly focused on bilateral relations," he said, adding that the problem of electricity prices had not been raised. "Electricity prices is Armenia’s domestic affair, which cannot be discussed with Russia," he said. "They mainly discussed bilateral relations." On June 17, 2015, the Commission for Public Services and Utilities partially endorsed a request by the Armenian Power Grids electricity distributor, which is a subsidiary of Russia’s INTER RAO UES Corporation, to raise the tariffs for electricity by 16 percent. The first action of protest took place in central Yerevan on the same day. Its organizers felt apprehensive of a sweeping growth of commodity prices and service tariffs, which the hike of electricity fees might trigger. On June 19, similar actions took place in other cities. On June 23, the police used force while dispersing a demonstration in the capital. A total of eighteen people, including eleven police officers, were injured and 237 protesters were detained but released soon afterwards. On June 25, Prime Minister Ovik Abramyan made public the government’s decision to pay out compensations to low-income families but actions of protest in Yerevan and other cities continued in spite of the announced compensative measures. President Serzh Sargsyan said on June 27 the government was prepared to take on responsibility for covering the expenses linked to the hike of electricity fees until the auditing of Armenian Power Grids was completed. The protesters split into two camps after this, with one of them accepting Sargsyan’s proposal to stop violations of public law and order and moving to Freedom Square in front of the Yerevan Opera House and the radically minded camp apparently reluctant to meet the authorities halfway. Read more