General Muradov: Armenian authorities mislead population

The commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Azerbaijan, Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov, speaking with Armenian journalists, denied the fake report that he was supposed to bring a group of Armenian citizens, arrested by the Azerbaijani security forces for terrorist activity in Nagorno-Karabakh, from Baku to Yerevan yesterday.

Initially the fake news was just a common rumor, but then it was "confirmed" by Nikol Pashinyan's press secretary Mane Gevorgyan and the office of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, becoming the Armenian government's official statement: General Muradov is bringing Armenian citizens from Baku, arrested for international terrorism. When they were not on the plane, it was used as a pretext for accusing Azerbaijan and Russia of violating the agreements.

Today General Muradov revealed that the Armenian authorities lied, no return of Armenian citizens from Baku was planned on this flight.

"It was a false provocation. Ask them. They mislead the population," he stressed.

"It was not planned [the return of Armenian citizens]. It was a regular working visit [to Baku]," the commander of the Russian peacekeepers explained.

On Thursday and Friday, the relatives of the Armenian terrorists arrested in Azerbaijan blocked the roads in the Shirak region and the approaches to the Armenian Defense Ministry. Defense Ministry employees were locked in the building for at least 14 hours. Head of the General Staff of Armenia Artak Davtyan had to change his car for a helicopter. The deceived parents demand a meeting with Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan and Chief of the General Staff Dakvtyan. The situation at the department remains tense at the moment. Law enforcers have not yet used force, but the number of police officers outside the building is increasing.