YEREVAN. – A group of demonstrators held a protest march on Sunday, in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan, demanding that Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volinkin be declared persona non grata, and with the slogan: “No Putinism.”   

But on their way back after having handed to the Russian Embassy their letter of protest to the ambassador, the participants in the march clashed with the police officers accompanying them.

As a result, two participants in the march—namely, Varujan Ter-Tribunyan and Arman Urikhanyan—were detained.

The participants in the march had wanted to walk in the street, but the police officers did not permit them to do so, and this started a shoving match between them, the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informed.

Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volinkin had recently stated that there was a need for “neutralizing those NGOs in Armenia that want to drive a wedge into Russian-Armenian relations.” And this statement had caused a discontent among Armenia’s civil society.