The Council of the Lazarevsky Club considers the ban on the Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin entering Armenia an outrageous trick, Lazarevsky Club Council's statement said.

"On the eve of the fifth meeting of the International Russian-Armenian Lazarevsky Club on the theme: "The historical past and present of Russian-Armenian relations" in Yerevan, the organizer of our Club, Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin, by order of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, was announced that his arrival in the Republic is "undesirable." The Council of Lazarevsky Club considers this trick to be outrageous both in form and content.

We do not need to prove that Konstantin Zatulin is a great friend of Armenia and an active supporter of friendship between the Russian and Armenian peoples, who has never changed his convictions. Armenians all over the world know about it without exaggeration. Exactly Zatulin achieved recognition of the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in Russia - according to his report in the already far 1995 the first Russian State Duma adopted this decision. His speeches in defense of rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh for many years influenced formation of public opinion in Russia, and his visits and support to the Republic of Artsakh became a reason for declaring him persona non grata in neighboring Azerbaijan in 2010. Konstantin Zatulin always actively fought for the life and well-being of the population of the unrecognized Republic, which was reflected, for example, in the organization of vaccination of Nagorno-Karabakh against coronavirus infection, carried out at the height of the pandemic on funds collected by the Club.

Konstantin Zatulin was banned from entering Armenia in response to an invitation he sent to the speaker and deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament and foreign minister to address the Club's meeting on October 28. It is unprecedented in itself - although the very custom of banning Russian parliamentarians from entering Armenia has never existed before - that the letter is signed by an official of the National Assembly. Everything was done in such a way as to benefit higher people from this shameful decision, although the announcement of the ban to Zatulin in Nikol Pashinyan's "family" newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak gives away the real mastermind.

If anyone had any doubts, it is now quite clear that by attempting to derail the discussion of Russian-Armenian relations so that the voice of the Russian participants of the Lazarevsky Club would not be heard in Armenia, the authorities of the Republic are going down the road of betraying relations with Russia. Which is not surprising, given the course already taken by the Armenian authorities to betray Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Council of the Lazarevsky Club declares that the meeting of the Club in Yerevan on the declared topic, as announced, will take place on October 28 in the hall "Mantashev" of the business center "Elite Plaza" (15, Movses Khorenatsi str., Yerevan). The Russian members of the Club will be able to participate in the meeting online from the Presidential hall of the press-center of MIA "Russia Today" in Moscow. It will start at 10:00 Yerevan time, which corresponds to 9:00 Moscow time," the statement reads.