Russian parliamentarians off to Gyumri to remember the killed family

YEREVAN, January 22. / ARKA /. A group of lawmakers from Russian State Duma  (lower parliament chamber) who have arrived in Armenia have left for Gyumri today to lay wreaths at the graves of 7 people, all members of one family, killed by a Russian soldier from the local Russian military base. 

The Russian deputies, led by Boris Reznik from the ruling Yedinaya Rossiya (United Russia) party, were also expected to meet with local residents. 

Reznik said the group includes a member of the committee on CIS affairs Irina Rodnina, first deputy chairman of the same committee Oleg Lebedev and an advisor to the chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Krotov.

He said the group will stay in the town for two days. 

'Our mission is to lay wreaths at the graves of the killed family," he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

The Russian parliamentarians will also have meetings with the administration of Gyumri and Armenian peers in Yerevan 

'We need to talk to them, to clarify our positions," he added. -0-

A soldier from the Russian military base in Gyumri ,Valery Permyakov, accused of killing seven people in the town, has pleaded guilty admitting the charges brought against him by Armenian law enforcement agencies, the Investigative Committee of Armenia said on January 21. Permyakov is charged with the first paragraph of the second part of Article 104 of the Armenian Criminal Code (murder of two or more persons).

Valery Permyakov had earlier confessed to killing all seven members of an Armenian family in Gyumri. He was captured by Russian border guards when trying to flee across the Armenian-Turkish border and remains in Russian custody to this day.-0-