ArmInfo.Moscow requested factual material from Yerevan regarding information about the announcement of Russian State Duma member Konstantin Zatulin persona non grata in Armenia. Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced on October 27 during a weekly briefing.
So, to clarify how the Armenian side motivated the ban on Zatulin's entry into Armenia and what actions the Russian Foreign Ministry intends to take, Zakharova advised turning to Armenia with a question about the motives. "Well, as for their motive, I am referring to Konstantin Zatulin's, by the way, according to the statements of Margarita Simonyan himself, the ban on his entry to Armenia, please contact the relevant country. "Well, as for their motivation, I mean those who forbade Konstantin Zatulin, and by the way, according to the statements of Margarita Simonyan herself, her as well, to enter Armenia - please contact the relevant country. We accepted such statements and messages with bewilderment. I want to remind you that we are talking about a State Duma deputy and editor-in-chief of the Russian media. We immediately turned to the Armenian side through diplomatic channels for official confirmation and clarification. .We saw similar reports, and we officially asked to clarify whether this is so, and what all this is connected with if this is confirmed," the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said. According to her, Moscow proceeds from the premise that, I repeat once again, if this information is confirmed, it is difficult to qualify as a friendly step corresponding to the allied nature of our relations. At the same time, she stressed that when Russia receives an official response, then it will be determined with further actions and reactions.
"I would just like to say, I'm not sure that I should do this, because both Konstantin Zatulin and Margarita Simonyan talk about themselves regularly. And in my opinion, it's great and you should still listen to their statements. But, in any case, I will repeat, but I don't think that anyone has not heard their views. They traditionally advocate the all-out strengthening of bilateral allied ties, contacts between people. And it seems to me that there should be no doubts here," the Russian diplomat emphasized.
At the same time, she stressed that she had not heard any statements from them of a different nature. According to Zakharova, the abovementioned persons, of course, are public and political figures, and they have their own assessment of what is happening. "But, no one has ever had and never can have any doubts that they are acting precisely in line with the development of bilateral allied relations. And of course, I really would not like artificial reasons to be invented, in the current conditions, when the West is purposefully trying to shake up the situation in the South Caucasus and drive a wedge in relations between Moscow and Yerevan," she said. To clarify whether this is the first such case, Zakharova said that she could not say whether it was the first or not the first, until there was an answer from the relevant side. "When they tell us, then we can understand it. What will we comment on now, if we only requested factual material," Zakharova summed up. It should be noted that on October 25 it became known that the Armenian authorities declared a great friend of the Armenian people, Russian MP Konstantin Zatulin, persona non grata. Zatulin's activity, which "damages the Armenian-Russian allied relations," is cited as a motivation