Starmus, the global science and art festival, which is held these days in Yerevan, did not do without excesses. Founder of popular science publication Naked Science (a major Russian science media outlet) Ruslan Martirosyan reported on the incident that took place on the opening day of the festival with the participation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's security guards.

Sputnik Armenia reached out to Martirosyan himself, as well as the organizers of the festival, to get to the bottom of the situation.

Martirosyan said he was one of the first to be accredited, but was unable to attend the festival. According to him, the organization of the passes at the entrance was so bad that he had to admonish the guards, who reacted brutally and chased him out of the Starmus venue using brute force.

The journalist is sure that it was the state security guards who acted in order to organize the visit of Nikol Pashinyan to the festival, and not the security service of the event itself.

According to the Naked Science publisher, the guards were rude from the very first minutes. He was not let into the building, stating that media representatives could enter only after 16:00.

"I showed them my badge and told them that the festival representatives had assured me that the media could work until 4 p.m. In response I was told "no" in a very rude tone and demanded that I get out and come in after 16:00," Martirosyan said.

That was not the end of the incident. Ruslan managed to enter the building through another entrance guarded by the festival security. Martirosyan again went up to the security guards who kicked him out and reprimanded him, saying that you can't talk to the press like that, especially at such a major event.

"I spoke with them in Armenian, so they thought I was a representative of the Armenian media and they can then settle the conflict in the usual way, without much publicity. By making the remark I sincerely wanted to help the organizers make the festival in Armenia even better," Martirosyan added.

After that, according to the journalist, he was immediately attacked by several security guards. They tried to escort him in rough form to the security room. Martirosyan got scared that he could be beaten and started to shout loudly to attract attention. After that he was actually kicked out of the SKK building.

The founder of Naked Science was not able to take part in the festival. He was contacted the same evening by Gor Tsarukyan, director of the Center for Public Relations and Information, as well as the festival organizers, who invited Martirosyan to cover the festival again.

Martirosyan noted that he had nothing against Starmus and might still take part in the event.