Armenian police stop protests against visit of Lavrov, head of Russian MFA

Tigran Khzmalyan, the leader of the European Party of Armenia, and a party supporter were detained at the Russian Embassy before the start of the action against the visit of Sergey Lavrov, the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The National Democratic Pole refused to march against Lavrov's visit to Yerevan in order to avoid provocations and clashes.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today, at the building of the Armenian MFA, an action of forced migrants from the Gadrut District was held, timed to Minister Lavrov's visit. The MFA should activate diplomatic efforts so that Gadrut residents could return home, the forced migrants have stated.

According to organizers, the Wednesday (May 5) was about 200 people strong. They condemned Russia's policy "directed against Armenia's sovereignty." To restore confidence in Russia, it is necessary to return Armenian prisoners of war (POWs), stop negotiations on Syunik, restore talks under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as replace Russian troops with a peacemaking contingent of the mediating countries, the authors of the appeal have stated.

Garegin Chugaszyan, a member of the National Democratic Pole, has linked Sergey Lavrov's visit to an attempt to impose the enforcement of the November 9 agreement on Armenia. He believes that Russia is seeking concessions from Armenian authorities, in particular, in the Syunik issue.