During a question-and-answer session with government officials in parliament today, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan answered a question from deputy of the Prosperous Armenia Party Tigran Urikhanyan and said he assures that the Armenian authorities have nothing to do with the export of contraband cigarettes.

The deputy had asked the Prime Minister to touch upon the news that contraband planes are flying to the Russian Federation on a regular basis with the permission of the government.

“I saw your live broadcast on Facebook in which you said you aren’t preparing to refute everything, and I wouldn’t ask this question linked to Mikayel Minasyan’s allegation against you, if it wasn’t an allegation that concerns all citizens of Armenia. If contraband planes regularly fly from Armenia to Russia with the permission of the government and cause problems with Georgia, this will have an impact on your reputation. You might not be concerned about this, but I am concerned because you are the leader of my country. People might see me and say I’m the deputy of a country of contrabands. I would like to ask you to touch upon this issue and maintain our reputation,” Urikhanyan said.

In response, Nikol Pashinyan assured the MP that the authorities have nothing to do with all this.