YEREVAN. – Hrachya Hakobyan, the brother-in-law of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and an MP of the ruling My Step bloc, has nothing to do with the smuggling of cigarettes. Andranik Kocharyan, Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Defense and Security and MP of the My Step bloc, stated this at Wednesday’s briefings in the NA.

According to Kocharyan, ex-President Serzh Sargsyan's son-in-law—and former ambassador to the Vatican—Mikael Minasyan could have used similar schemes in the past, but not Hakobyan. "If this issue is properly studied, it will become clear that Vardan Harutyunyan [former head of the State Revenue Committee] and others could have behind such steps," the lawmaker added. "They are linked to the oligarchs who worked during the days of the previous authorities."

The MP noted that this is rather false information, as the Armenian law enforcement agencies have not yet received any information from Russia.

To note, Minasyan on Tuesday stated that a plane carrying smuggled cigarettes from Armenia was to leave for Afghanistan, but it had landed in Krasnodar, Russia, which is at the most illogical distance from Afghanistan. In his opinion, the Prime Minister of Armenia and his family are immediately behind this flight.