Armenian ambassador visits Russian MFA after Yerevan summons Russian ambassador
Armenia’s Ambassador to Russia, Gurgen Arsenyan, has visited the Russian Foreign Ministry for talks days after Armenia summoned the Russian ambassador to Yerevan.
According to a readout of the meeting by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Arsenyan met with Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin on Monday. Galuzin reportedly emphasised the ‘need to maintain a constructive information background in Armenia around Russia and bilateral ties’.
Relations between Armenia and Russia have grown increasingly tense in recent weeks, deteriorating further still after Armenian authorities arrested a number of opposition figures they have accused of planning to orchestrate a violent coup.
On Friday, Radar Armenia, a pro-government Armenian news site, reported that Armenia had summoned the Russian ambassador to Armenia, Sergey Kopyrkin, over reactions in Russia to the arrests.
Radar Armenia cited the Armenian foreign ministry as telling them that they had handed Kopyrkin a protest note over what it called the ‘openly unfriendly, often hostile propaganda against the Government of the Republic of Armenia in the mass media of the Russian Federation’.
This was being ‘actively fueled’ by certain officials, Russian MPs, and ‘the media and representatives of the expert community’, they reportedly said.
The note reportedly said that ‘offensive’ comments against the Armenian authorities broadcast on state media were ‘absolutely unacceptable’, and undermined the ‘positive results’ of recent high-level talks between Armenian and Russian officials.
‘Such statements are not only absurd, since it is unclear how and why the prevention of a coup d’état is considered an unfriendly step, but also a gross interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of Armenia’, the note reportedly said.
‘Moreover, the impression is created that such an information policy is being carried out purposefully with the aim of undermining democracy, legality, and constitutional order in the Republic of Armenia’, it reportedly said.
The flurry of diplomatic activity follows what Yerevan has called a coup attempt in Armenia that involved clergy from the Armenian Apostolic Church. On 25 June, Armenian authorities raided the homes of dozens of opposition figures, including Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who was among those arrested and accused of plotting a series of terrorist attacks in order to overthrow the government.
There has been speculation from some quarters in Armenia that Russia could have been involved in supporting the alleged plot.
In response, Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, criticised the moves and said that ‘attacks on the canonical thousand-year-old Armenian Apostolic Church are a matter of grave concern’.
Hitting back, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan then urged Russia ‘to refrain from interfering in Armenia’s domestic affairs and internal politics’.
Nate Ostiller
