Friday, September 2 2016 14:51

ArmInfo.Armenian officials  abstain from assessing the incident that happened to political expert  Stepan Grigoryan, who was denied entry to Russia on August 30 and  deported from Sheremetyevo Airport to Armenia on the same day. 

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan  said that the  Armenian Foreign Ministry is tackling the given issue. "The results  will be publicized later," he told reporters following the  Government's sitting on Sept 2.     

For his part, Head of the State Migration Service of Armenia Gagik  Yeganyan noted that he is not authorized to comment on the laws and  legal acts of another state.   

Meanwhile, Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan says that he  has received no official complaint about this incident. 

Earlier on Thursday, Stepan Grigoryan, Head of the Analytical Centre  on Globalization and Regional Cooperation (ACGRC), said that on  August 30 at 8 am he arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport in Russia but he  was unable to enter the territory of Russia because he was detained  by Russian border guards due to a ban on travel to Russia until 2030.    

"I arrived in Russia to visit one of the Moscow cemeteries, where my  father Gevorg Grigoryan was buried in October 2014. I had only 10  hours and on Aug 30 night I was to fly back to Yerevan. I was given a  notification, which contained references to the Russian Federal Law  "On departure and entry to the Russian Federation," which mostly  concerned various kinds of actions of foreign citizens, who violate  the law. This has absolutely nothing to do with me, because I have  conducted no activities in Russia over the past 20 years. In my case,  only Item 9 of Article 26 of that Law (On deportation of foreign  citizens who take part in international organizations' activities,  which are undesirable in the territory of Russia) was important. It  is no secret that the Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional  Cooperation (Armenia) headed by me is actively cooperating with  European NGOs, analytical centers and various democratic foundations  that support our initiatives. Besides, we do not conceal that we see  the future of Armenian people in the European family based on  democratic values. It is obvious that the Russian authorities'  decision was politically charged," Grigoryan says on his Facebook  page.  

To note, the Russian Embassy in Armenia says that it holds no  information about this incident.