Months ago, the concerns we had and communicated to our Russian partners regarding the content of certain TV programs did not lead to any further alerts afterwards. This was stated today by Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, speaking with reporters at the National Assembly of Armenia—and referring to the matter of banning Russian TV channels in Armenia.

He recalled that months ago, a well-known Russian TV program was blocked in Armenia after offensive statements were made towards Armenia and Armenian citizens, and it was even not ruled out that Armenia would reconsider certain points of its intergovernmental agreement with Russia.

“Taking this into account, at this phase we [i.e. Armenia] are not raising such a question yet with our [Russian] partners, because in recent months there has simply been no reason to do so—waiting for both parties to fulfill their contractual obligations in practice,” Hayrapetyan said. .

He added that afterwards the Armenian government will make a decision on whether to ever consider broadcasting any international or foreign country TV channels on its own public multiplex. “My personal opinion is that it is not very prudent to broadcast international TV channels on the public multiplex,” he said.