Moscow requested factual material from Yerevan on declaring Russian  State Duma member persona non grata in Armenia

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