YEREVAN. – The Press Freedom Index drop in Armenia is due to the political situation in the country.

Yerevan Press Club President Boris Navasardyan, who is also Eastern Partnership Civil Society Assembly Coordinator for Armenia, stated the aforesaid on Saturday commenting on the Freedom House annual report on press freedom in 197 countries.

As per Navasardyan, the above-said index first refers to the presidential and the parliamentary elections.

But he also did not rule out that, when preparing the index, Freedom House might have considered Armenia’s announcement on joining the Customs Union (CU), since the country wishes to get closer with countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan) where freedom of speech and the journalist’s right to personal security are not an absolute value.

“By entering into the CU, Armenia may encounter various issues related to freedom of the press,” the analyst noted, in particular.

Navasardyan, however, added that the Index can be considered objective, overall, but with one oversight: when making its analysis, Freedom House presents the same requirements for all countries without considering their national and cultural peculiarities.