YEREVAN. – The chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia, Sergey Naryshkin, will visit Armenia on March 29 and 30, Hraparak daily reported.
“The Russian side is doing so that there will not be a buildup of Russian officials [in Armenia] on April 24 because ‘all’ of them are trying to pay a proper attention to the 100th anniversary of the Calamity [i.e. the Armenian Genocide].
“Incidentally, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s so early statement on coming to Armenia [on April 24] was somewhat unexpected for the Armenian side.
“The thing is that the Turkish side has done everything so that Putin goes to Turkey on April 24 to participate in the celebration of the Battle of Gallipoli, which [i.e. Putin going to Turkey] would have been the trump card [of Turkey] against genocide. [But] the Putin administration stated early about coming to [Armenia’s capital city of] Yerevan to clarify the matter and not give rise to speculation in Armenia.
“The thing is that if Putin had decided to go to Turkey, a large number of senior [official] Europeans would have arrived in Armenia to demonstrate that Armenia is a ‘European territory,’ and Russia is not at its side in a difficult time,” Hraparak wrote.
