Photos: One of the Sakura Trees Planted on Moscow Street Dried Up Again, Says Kristine Vardanyan

One of the sakura trees planted on Moscow Street and maintained daily has dried up again, marking the third such incident this year. This post was made by Kristine Vardanyan, a member of Yerevan’s city council and an environmentalist, along with accompanying photographs on her Facebook page.

“You cannot dictate your will to nature. Sakuro sakurini, blephanto bambini,” she wrote.

It should be noted that on March 23, 2023, the Yerevan Municipality’s “Greening and Environmental Protection” non-commercial organization announced the start of work to replace “aged trees nearing the end of their functionality” with viable, decorative trees. The work began at the Cascade, sparking a wave of protests among residents.

According to data from the state procurement system armeps.am, on February 14, 2023, the non-commercial organization signed a procurement contract with “Green Fairy” LLC, which was obligated to supply a total of 150 saplings of the sakura tree species in exchange for the contracted amount.

Per the contract appendix, the organization procured 100 saplings of “Japanese Royal Burgundy Sakura” at 72,490 AMD each, 30 saplings of “Japanese Seru’s Atama Gawa” at 62,490 AMD each, and 20 saplings of “Japanese Seriuta Kiku Shidaru” at 65,490 AMD each.

This means that Yerevan Municipality was to pay 10 million 433 thousand 500 AMD for 150 sakuras. However, on February 27, a new agreement was signed between the non-commercial organization and “Green Fairy” LLC, stipulating that 70 sakuras would be delivered instead of 150—50 trees at 72,490 AMD each and 20 trees at 65,490 AMD each. The total value of the contract amounted to 4 million 934 thousand AMD.