ARMENIA: EaP CSF Armenian National Platform STATEMENT

On 30 August 2016, at the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, border guards of the Russian Federation arrested Dr. StepanGrigoryan, an active and experienced representative of Armenia’s civil society, former deputy in the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia, former advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the Board Chairman of the Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation.

After 10 hours of detention in isolation, during which his passport was seized, he was deported from Russia to Armenia. The border guards justified this treatment towards him by the fact that his entry to the Russian Federation until 2030 was prohibited under Articles 26 and 27 of the Russian Federation Federal Law on the Procedure of Entry into the Russian Federation Territory, namely Paragraph 9 of Article 26, which relates to “the deportation of foreign citizens that participate in the activities of international organizations that are undesirable in the territory of Russia.” Subsequently, however, it became clear that, according to the website of the Federal Migration Service of Russia, StepanGrigoryan has the right to enter into the territory of the Russian Federation without any restriction.

We believe that the groundless and unlawful actions by Russia’s authorities, which restrict the right to freedom of movement of a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, is politically motivated, because the Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation, of which StepanGrigoryan is the leader, actively cooperates with European non-governmental organizations and does not conceal that it sees the Armenian people’s future within the European family of nations anchored in democratic values. Furthermore, Armenia and the Russian Federation have a visa-free regime with one another. Therefore, there is now suspicion in Armenia that the Russian Federation has a “sanction list of non-grata citizens” of the Republic of Armenia. Finally, StepanGrigoryan does not perform any activities within the Russian Federation, and his goal of entering that country for just a few hours was purely personal (to visit his late father’s grave). By imposing a sanction on StepanGrigoryan for his activities in Armenia and third countries, the Russian Federation authorities essentially interfered with the internal affairs of Armenia and the countries in which StepanGrigoryan performs lawful activities.

In recent times, this is not the first case of Russian state or non-state actors targeting Armenian civil society representatives. A similar case occurred recently, when an unknown website serving well-known interests spread a list of persons that are allegedly American agents in Armenia, which included the photos and names of a number of active members of Armenian civil society.

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Armenia National Platform condemns the unlawful act performed against StepanGrigoryan by a state body of Russia.

Considering that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia has made an inquiry with the Russian Embassy in Armenia concerning StepanGrigoryan’s case, we urge Armenia’s diplomatic service to be principled and persistent in upholding the violated rights of an Armenian citizen.

Furthermore, we invite the Russian Federation Embassy in Armenia to provide clarification on the following questions:

1. What is the link between StepanGrigoryan, who does not perform any activity in the Russian Federation, and the list of international non-governmental organizations the activities of which in Russia’s territory were declared undesirable (http://minjust.ru/ru/activity/nko/unwanted)? Is any representative of any organization that cooperates with the organizations in the list anywhere in the world subject to Articles 26 and/or 27 of the said law of the Russian Federation?

2. Does the act towards representatives of organizations cooperating with the organizations included in the list concern also their use of Russian Federation airports as transit hubs?

3. What principles and criteria are applied to determine which international organizations are “undesirable in the territory of Russia”? We further note that, in case of not receiving an exhaustive and comprehensive response to these questions, or in case of a similar future act towards any representative of Armenian civil society, we will be forced to invite all of our partner organizations in the Eastern Partnership and the EU to refrain from traveling to the Russian Federation or using its territory for transit purposes.

CREDITS: The cover photo is taken from the website http://ankakh.com.