Prosperous Armenia calls on fellow citizens not to succumb to anti- Russian sentiments

YEREVAN, January 16. / ARKA /. The Prosperous Armenia party has issued a statement today urging fellow citizens not to succumb to anti-Russian sentiments and calls.

"Any attempt to push the situation towards anti-Russian sentiments and actions is fraught with unpredictable consequences for our country. This tensions benefits neither Armenia nor Russia," says the statement.

Large crowds of protesters gathered outside the Russian military base in Gyumri January 15, where Valery Permyakov, a soldier suspected of killing a six-member local family on Monday  is now being held, demanding that he be handed over to Armenian law enforcement to ensure he is prosecuted locally. Valery Permyakov, confessed to the crime after being apprehended by Russian border guards as he was reportedly attempting to cross into Turkey. 

The Prosperous Armenia's statement says Russia's political and military leadership will strongly condemn the inhuman crime and take effective steps to substantially improve the discipline at the  military base in Gyumri. The statement says Armenians believe that all those responsible for this crime will be punished  and that the Russian side will not interfere with the investigation of the case to be conducted in line with the Armenian legislation and the dissemination of unbiased information, and will take all necessary steps to stabilize the situation.

"This will be the best way to ease tension in order not to harm the friendly relations between the two peoples," says the statement adopted at a meeting of the party's leadership chaired by party chairman Gagik Tsarukyan.

The statement calls also on  police to exercise utmost restraint and not to exceed their powers under any circumstances and avoid also the use of force.

The statement then calls on prosecutor-general Gevork Kostanyan "not to aggravate the situation by making contradictory statements and by a behavior inconsistent with the situation."

Earlier Armenian defense minister Seyran Ohanyan and Russian ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin criticized the attempts to politicize the murders pointing to the allied relations between the two nations. According to Armenian authorities, they are conducting the investigation into the case together with Russian counterparts.-0-