On October 25, the Armenian authorities announced that they consider the arrival of State Duma deputy, first deputy chairman for CIS affairs and relations with compatriots Konstantin Zatulin undesirable. Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya media group and RT television channel, was subject to the same restrictions.
According to Zatulin, a letter was sent to his corporate email from the head of the external relations department of the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia, Tigran Seyranyan. It said: “On instructions from the leadership of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, we inform you that, unfortunately, your public statements of the last period towards the Republic of Armenia are detrimental to the development of friendly and allied relations between our states. In this regard, your future visit to the Republic of Armenia is considered undesirable.”
According to the Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak, damage to relations was caused by the deputy’s interviews, in which the latter “repeatedly accused the Armenian authorities of defeat in the 44-day war” and stated that the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan should leave his post.
Zatulin himself called such a step on the part of Yerevan offensive and sudden. “In itself, it [the decision] is symptomatic and indicates a new course for the Armenian authorities. Of course, I have many friends in Armenia, but the masks have certainly been dropped. Although my personal attitude towards the Armenians and Armenia itself has not changed,” the deputy commented.
As for Margarita Simonyan, there has been no official confirmation of the ban on her entry into Armenia. The ban became known from the words of Simonyan herself. “Konstantin Zatulin, who has been a fierce supporter of Armenia for many years, was denied entry by the current head of Armenia. By the way, me too,” she wrote in her Telegram channel.
Previously, Simonyan has repeatedly criticized the Armenian authorities. “In response to the many years of kindness and protection that you received from Russia, you did not recognize Crimea,” she wrote in the summer of 2020. —You have flooded the country with anti-Russian NGOs, which on your territory are teaching young people how to overthrow the government in Russia. You have become a springboard for anti-Russian forces in the Caucasus... After everything you have done, Russia has every moral right to spit on you and grind you.”
Then Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in an interview with the RBC TV channel, called all these claims unfounded, noting that Simonyan’s post caused a sharp negative reaction in Armenian circles and in Armenia.
Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan, in response to questions about these sanctions, stated that Yerevan cannot be indifferent to those who demonstrate disrespect for sovereign Armenia and make disparaging statements about it, regardless of whether they represent a foreign state or not .
“As for the ban on the entry of Margarita Simonyan into Armenia, I do not have such information, but I do not exclude that this may concern both her and her husband, and agents and mankurts of different countries with Armenian surnames who will show disrespect towards the Republic of Armenia, towards her independence or allow themselves offensive expressions against the former leaders of the Republic of Armenia in private conversations,” Simonyan said.