“Zhoghovurd” says reports of deadly fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have become so frequent that “it seems like large-scale hostilities have resumed.” “The fact is that the war is not declared but is going on, suggesting that it will be declared one day and the Armenian public must be prepared for that,” writes the paper.
“Iravunk” says that the situation on the frontlines is now more tense than at any other moment since a Russian-negotiated truce agreement stopped the Karabakh war in 1994. “The fact that we hear about Azerbaijani attacks practically every day … demonstrates that the situation is really unprecedented,” writes the paper.
“Zhamanak” reports that Armenia’s Investigative Committee publicized on Thursday a short video of its interrogation of Valery Permyakov, the Russian soldier charged with killing seven Armenians in Gyumri. The paper says the footage only deepen suspicions that Permyakov is not the only person involved in the crime. It says the suspect looked “amazingly calm” and not remorseful at all, wondering whether he is really the one who slaughtered the Avetisian in cold blood.
“Aravot” believes that the crime would have hardly been politicized by people in and outside Armenia had Permyakov been kept in an Armenian jail. The paper accuses Russia of “showing disdain for our state and people” by refusing to extradite the soldier.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” complains that Prosecutor-General Gevorg Kostanian was the only senior Armenian law-enforcement official who spoke at parliamentary hearings on the Gyumri tragedy on Thursday. “After all, some of the unanswered questions are addressed not to the prosecutor but the Armenian police chief, Vova Gasparian, the head of the Investigative Committee, Aghvan Hovsepian, and the director of the National Security Service, Gorik Hakobian,” argues the paper. It says they have still not explained why they failed to track down and arrest Permyakov hours after the killings. It says there are also suggestions that Permyakov was in fact arrested by the Armenian police or the NSS and then handed over to the Russians.
(Tigran Avetisian)