By Ani Afyan

No Armenian bus company, which conducts regular passenger transportation between Moscow and Yerevan, is in the Registry of Regular International Bus Routes of Russia.

The International Routes Department at the Russian Ministry of Transport informed the abovementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am. This means all aforesaid bus companies are working illegally.

But deputy head of the Department of Transport of the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Armenia, Davit Melkonyan, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that numerous bus companies, which initially conduct irregular transportation, become regular over the course of time.

“The legislative regulation of this matter is in process,” Melkonyan added.

After the tragic accident that occurred in Russia, Moscow law enforcement has become more stringent toward illegal transportation  of passengers.

Nine people were killed and over forty others were injured as a passenger bus, which was traveling from Moscow to Yerevan, crashed on November 3, in Tula Oblast (province) in Russia.

Russia has opened a criminal case into this bus crash, and on charges of “breaking the road traffic and vehicle operation rules.” A similar case has been filed in Armenia, too.

According to preliminary data, the bus driver, Garnik Harutyunyan, had fallen asleep at the steering wheel.

Harutyunyan has been taken into custody for two months.