YEREVAN. – Hraparak (Square) newspaper on Wednesday reported about the Republic of Armenia (RA) authorities revoking the diplomatic passport of renowned Armenian footballer Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

In response to the newspaper’s question about Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokesperson Tigran Balayan had noted, “That’s personal information, I don’t believe it’s subject to publicizing. [But] I can only say that, at this time, 254 diplomatic passports are canceled,” Hraparak wrote on Thursday.

“Yesterday we learned new details related to this cancelation. The decision to cancel the [aforesaid diplomatic] passports was made about 2 months ago, but 2 days ago, [the respective] writings have been sent from the RA MFA to the RA diplomatic services.

“And there are many noteworthy names on the list [of persons whose diplomatic passports have been revoked] (…). All former MPs, ministers and provincial governors, as well as PMs (…) have been deprived of diplomatic passports. There are also (...) many other former officials on the list.

“By the decision of the RA Prime Minister, a diplomatic passport [of Armenia] can be issued to any person,” Hraparak wrote.