YEREVAN. – Armenia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan does not see any danger from the statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to Aravot (Morning) newspaper.

“My assessment [of this statement] literally coincides with the [respective] formulation by the [Armenian] Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Mirzoyan told Aravot.am. “I have nothing to add.”

“[The current] events in Armenia contradict the announcements of the country’s new leadership that their predecessors will not be subjected to political persecution,” Lavrov had stated after Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan was arrested, charges were brought against Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, and Armenia’s former Defense Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan—and within the framework of the criminal case into the events that transpired in capital city Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008.

When Aravot.am asked the deputy PM whether such statement by Russia would jeopardize Armenian-Russian relations, and whether this statement was a meddling in the policy of Armenia’s authorities, Mirzoyan simply responded, “No.”