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14 INJURED AS ARMENIANS PROTEST FAMILY KILLINGS BY RUSSIAN SOLDIER
The Moscow Times, Russia
Jan 16 2015
YEREVAN -- At least 14 people have been wounded in scuffles between
police and protesters as several thousand rallied in Armenia's second
city of Gyumri, demanding that Russian authorities hand over a soldier
accused of killing six members of a local family.
Armenian police say Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in
Gyumri, has confessed to Monday's killings, whose victims included
a two-year-old girl. A younger child was wounded but survived.
Russia's Defense Ministry has acknowledged a soldier went missing
before the killings, which it called a tragedy. Minister Sergei
Shoigu has sent condolences, promised severe punishment for whoever
was responsible and dispatched one of his deputies to Gyumri to lead
a team of investigators.
The incident has whipped up tension between Russia and Armenia, a
former Soviet republic which normally enjoys close ties with Moscow
and has signed up to a Russian-led Customs Union, a pet project of
President Vladimir Putin.
A crowd of several thousand people attended the victims' funeral in
Gyumri on Thursday but police in riot gear later prevented protesters
from reaching Russia's consulate in the city, some 120 kilometers
(75 miles) north-west of the capital Yerevan.
Protesters and police threw stones and smoke bombs at each other. A
medical official in the city said five policemen and nine civilians
required medical treatment.
Local media say Permyakov was captured on the border with Turkey and
is now being held at the Russian military base, which Moscow has not
officially confirmed.
"I will ask Russia's Prosecutor General to hand over the case to
Armenian law enforcement bodies when, as a result of an investigation,
there are enough grounds for that," Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan
told the crowd.
On a third day of angry protests, several hundred people also rallied
in the centre of Yerevan, carrying banners reading "The law is above
imperial ambitions" and "Strategic partner -- be a human being."
Russia is a key ally and trade partner for Armenia, which is locked in
a decades-old territorial dispute with its larger neighbor Azerbaijan.
Moscow, for its part, wants to beef up its influence in the
Transcaucasus region, sandwiched between Russia, Turkey, Iran and
the oil and gas deposits of the Caspian Sea.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/14-injured-as-armenians-protest-family-killings-by-russian-soldier/514460.html
The Moscow Times, Russia
Jan 16 2015
YEREVAN -- At least 14 people have been wounded in scuffles between
police and protesters as several thousand rallied in Armenia's second
city of Gyumri, demanding that Russian authorities hand over a soldier
accused of killing six members of a local family.
Armenian police say Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in
Gyumri, has confessed to Monday's killings, whose victims included
a two-year-old girl. A younger child was wounded but survived.
Russia's Defense Ministry has acknowledged a soldier went missing
before the killings, which it called a tragedy. Minister Sergei
Shoigu has sent condolences, promised severe punishment for whoever
was responsible and dispatched one of his deputies to Gyumri to lead
a team of investigators.
The incident has whipped up tension between Russia and Armenia, a
former Soviet republic which normally enjoys close ties with Moscow
and has signed up to a Russian-led Customs Union, a pet project of
President Vladimir Putin.
A crowd of several thousand people attended the victims' funeral in
Gyumri on Thursday but police in riot gear later prevented protesters
from reaching Russia's consulate in the city, some 120 kilometers
(75 miles) north-west of the capital Yerevan.
Protesters and police threw stones and smoke bombs at each other. A
medical official in the city said five policemen and nine civilians
required medical treatment.
Local media say Permyakov was captured on the border with Turkey and
is now being held at the Russian military base, which Moscow has not
officially confirmed.
"I will ask Russia's Prosecutor General to hand over the case to
Armenian law enforcement bodies when, as a result of an investigation,
there are enough grounds for that," Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan
told the crowd.
On a third day of angry protests, several hundred people also rallied
in the centre of Yerevan, carrying banners reading "The law is above
imperial ambitions" and "Strategic partner -- be a human being."
Russia is a key ally and trade partner for Armenia, which is locked in
a decades-old territorial dispute with its larger neighbor Azerbaijan.
Moscow, for its part, wants to beef up its influence in the
Transcaucasus region, sandwiched between Russia, Turkey, Iran and
the oil and gas deposits of the Caspian Sea.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/14-injured-as-armenians-protest-family-killings-by-russian-soldier/514460.html