YEREVAN. Sept 7 (Interfax) - Armenian law enforcement officers have detained pro-Russian blogger and activist Mika Badalyan in an illegal firearms trafficking case, Armenian Investigative Committee Spokesman Gor Abramyan has said.
Seven people were apprehended in Armenia's Syunik region on September 6 and 7, including Mika Badalyan and Sputnik Armenia radio editor Ashot Gevorgyan, Abramyan said. "They have been detained on the basis of a well-founded suspicion of having committed an offense, in a criminal case opened by the National Security Service and referred to the Investigative Committee under part 2, article 335 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (illegal trafficking of firearms, their main components, ammunition and other materials, devices, items)," he said.
Accordingly, an investigative team has been formed, and investigatory and administrative efforts are underway, he said.
The head of Russia's Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), Yevgeny Primakov, said earlier on Telegram that Badalyan had been abducted by unknown people wearing masks from outside a hotel in the town of Goris in southern Armenia's Syunik region.
The day before Mikael Badalyan was "kidnapped," the blogger took part in Primakov's radio program, "where he quite firmly articulated an oppositional point of view and criticized the Armenian government over what Mr. Badalyan described as an anti-Russian policy," he said. "I wouldn't like to think that Badalyan's abduction has something to do with what he said on the radio. I expect the competent agencies of the Republic of Armenia to immediately resolve the situation and provide exhaustive and clear answers about Badalyan's fate and safety to the public," Primakov said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova also commented on the situation.
"I am not ruling out that this is another provocation linked to the Russian-Armenian media forum held being in Yerevan. A provocation by those who dream of spoiling the relationship between the two countries. And the West has invested very large amounts of money in this. Apparently, forces directed toward this goal have become more active lately," Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Russian diplomats at the embassy in Yerevan said that they were aware that Badalyan and Gevorgyan had been detained.
"We are in contact with the editorial office of this news agency [Sputnik Armenia radio]. We are following the situation. We are worried about the detainees' fate and will take steps to clarify the circumstances of the incident," the Russian embassy said in a statement on Thursday.