YEREVAN. – “As [Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) Chairman] Gagik Tsarukyan’s spokeswoman Iveta Tonoyan informed our reporter, on the occasion of the 135th anniversary of [capital city] Yerevan’s “Ararat” Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory [which he owns], Tsarukyan sent an invitation to all European Union country ambassadors, [and] international organizations accredited in Armenia,” Hraparak daily writes and continues: 

“[But] As we observe, Russia’s ambassador, not unknown Vyacheslav Kovalenko, was not in the representative ‘group’ that ‘toured the factory [on Tuesday].’

The Russian side’s informal explanation to the question ‘why’ was as follows: ‘Who goes to drink on Tuesday?’ And the formal response was as follows: Chairman [Sergei] Stepashin of the Accounts Chamber of the [Russian Federation] RF is in Armenia, ‘we are busy.’   

We can assume that the Russian side simply made a demarche for the PAP’s such attention [shown] toward the western bloc.”