Armenia welcomes possible criminalizing of Armenian Genocide denial by the Russian Federation, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsah Kocharyan told reporters after the meeting of the Government on Nov 26, when commenting on the relevant bill that has been submitted to the State Duma.
"Let's wait and see the decision of the Russian parliamentarians," Kocharyan said. As for the possible effect of the strained Turkey-Russia relations on Armenia, the deputy minister said "the problem concerns our strategic ally on the one side, and our direct neighbor on the other side. Therefore, Armenia should closely follow all the processes."
The bill was introduced into the State Duma after the incident with the Russian warplane SU-24, which was shot down by the Turkish F-16 in Syria on the border with Turkey on Tuesday. The pilots managed to catapult but one of them was shot in the air. Pentagon has officially confirmed that the Russian plane was shot down over the territory of Syria.