YEREVAN, Mar 14 Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged the long-hidden by the Armenian authorities fact of the existence of a ban on entry into the republic of Russian Armenians — editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya media group and RT TV channel Margarita Simonyan and the founder of the News Media holding Aram Gabrelyanov, answering a question about such a ban during a press conference.
Earlier, the Armenian authorities avoided answering a direct question about the existence of such a ban. In particular, in November last year, the commander of the border troops of the National Security Service of Armenia, Arman Maralchan, in response to a request to ban Simonyan from entering the country, said that this information «is impossible to transfer, since it contains personal data.» To this, Simonyan urged the Armenian authorities «not to play up» and to answer directly.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Pashinyan was asked about the entry ban for Simonyan, Gabrelyanov and State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin. «Armenia is a sovereign state and has the right to expect respect for itself, to use sovereign tools to suppress encroachments against its interests … Respect must be shown, including in relation to the authorities elected by the people,» Pashinyan said. Earlier, Sputnik Armenia, citing its sources, reported that Russian journalist and publisher, founder of the «News Media» holding Aram Gabrelyanov was banned from entering Armenia, and he was on the list of undesirable persons.
Press Secretary Russian President Dmitry Peskov said on March 10 that Moscow is negative about such a ban. According to him, Armenia is a great friend, ally, strategic partner of Russia, and the level and nature of bilateral relations oblige us to protect bilateral relations from such cases.
In October last year, Simonyan reported that she and the First Deputy Committee of the State Duma on CIS Affairs Konstantin Zatulin was banned by the Armenian government from entering the country.