YEREVAN. - The Russian Ministry of Justice has the list of the organizations which receive grants from non-Russian organizations. According to the Russian authorities, the latter are foreign agents.

Head of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, Artur Sakunts, said the aforementioned to journalists on Wednesday, commenting on the incident on banning the entry of the Head of Armenia’s Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation (ACGRC), Stepan Grigoryan, to the territory of Russia.

In his words, Grigoryan has a diplomatic level and in this context the statement made by the advisor to the Russian Ambassador on that this incident won’t influence the Armenian-Russian relations seems odd.  

“Their message implies that all the criticism regarding the Russian policy doesn’t interest them. That is, the Armenian-Russian relations are developing on an official level, but there can be no relations on the public and expert levels,” Sakunts stated.

According to him, Grigoryan’s freedom to move was restricted and his right to immunity was violated due to political views.

This was an encroachment not only on Stepan Grigoryan, but also the public sector of Armenia, which has different stances.  

Touching on the fact that the Armenian MFA addressed the Russian MFA, the human rights defender noted: “The political authorities must make specific statements and not write letters.”

For his part, political analyst Stepan Grigoryan stressed that the Russian Migration Service website mentions that he has a right to enter Russia.  “That is, the Migration Service gives a green light, the Russian MFA says that there are no obstacles, but I enter the country and I’m basically detained and isolated.”

Grigoryan is outraged by the fact that his entry to Russia is banned till 2030, while the Migration Service may deprive a specific person of this right for five years. 

“The notification said that I am refused to enter Russia under Articles 26 and 27. Article 27 had nothing in common with me, only the 9th point of Article 26 somehow corresponding [to my case]. The aforementioned point bans the entrance to the Russian territory of foreigners, who work or cooperate with different international organizations and NGOs, which are undesirable for Russia. But the names of the undesirable organizations were not mentioned. Personally I cooperate with different organizations.”

As reported earlier, on Aug. 30 Stepan Grigoryan announced that he was not allowed to enter Russia, and as the report justifies, the ban is stipulated by the law on regulating the entry and the exit from the Russian Federation .