Tuesday, January 20 2015 15:40

Zaruhi Postanjyan, Armenian MP from the Heritage faction, has addressed an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chayka over the tragedy in Gyumri.

The letter specifically says, "Dear Mr. Putin, in a phone conversation with Serzh Sargsyan, you have at last extended condolences with a big delay, to the relatives of the victims and to all Armenian people over the tragedy in Gyumri, where a whole family was murdered and where the fight for a six-month-old baby's life has unfortunately failed". 

Postanjyan believes that the complicated political and economic situation in Russia and Armenia does not justify the Russian leader's continuous silence concerning "the unlawful actions with regard to the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia". 

"Armenia is the only country in the world, which entrusted Russia to guard the state border and to deploy a military base following the collapse of the USSR. In 1995, Russia and Armenia signed an unprecedented agreement on gratuitous operation of the Russian military base in Armenia. Armenia assumes part of the expenses on maintenance of the base. The agreement has been prolonged for 49 years", says the letter. 

The MP says that these documents imply mutual respect between Armenia and Russia. "Russia's benefits from this agreement are immense and have no alternatives. However, strange though it may appear, over the past few years Armenia has been making sure of the irrational and unlawful nature of Russia's decisions, ranging from the sale of military hardware worth over 4 billion USD to Azerbaijan and the tragedy in Gyumri", Postanjyan says in the letter. 
She stresses that the "delayed" condolence of Putin has not consoled the anguish of the Armenian people.  "Your statement that "all the necessary investigative steps will be taken as soon as possible and the culprits will be punished by the law" inspires no confidence because the management of the Russian Federal Security Service's Guard Division in Armenia has violated numerous laws and legal standards when transferring the trespasser of the Armenian state border to the commander of the 102nd Russian military base. To avoid confrontation between the states in the current situation, the Armenian citizens and the Armenians worldwide hope for your reasonable decision on immediate transfer of Permyakov to the Armenian side", Postanjyan says.