Armenia parliament not received any letter from Russia, legislature speaker's spox says

The National Assembly (NA) of Armenia has not received any letter from Russia, NA speaker Alen Simonyan's press secretary, Nelly Ghulyan, told Armenian News-NEWS.am on Thursday.

Grigory Karasin, Chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday sent a letter to the NA of Armenia, asking to clarify the position of the Armenian MPs regarding the statements made by NA speaker Alen Simonyan at the Spain Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments on Monday.

"We have received numerous requests from our citizens to clarify whether A. Simonyan's openly anti-Russian statements reflect the official position of the National Assembly of Armenia. In this regard, I would ask to clarify on whose behalf the president of the parliament of Armenia spoke at the mentioned event, as well as to inform to what extent his assessments correspond to the allied relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia, as well as to the centuries-old ties of friendship between Armenia and our peoples,” Karasin's letter reads.

And earlier, Valentina Matviyenko, Chairperson of the Federation Council of Russia, had instructed the country’s senators to prepare and send an inquiry to the Armenian parliament "in connection with the anti-Russian statements" of its speaker, Alen Simonyan.

At the Spain Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments, Simonyan had stated that considering that "the core of the conference is Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East," he wants to confirm that Armenia "resolutely supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as of Moldova, Georgia, Cyprus, and all countries."