Anti-Russian and anti-government protests in Armenia

Thousands of people took to the streets on 15 January 2015 in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, to protest against Russia and the government. Several dozen people were injured. The protests were provoked by the murder of an Armenian family of seven committed by a soldier from the 102nd Russian military base located in Gyumri. The protesters demanded that the suspect, who is being kept inside the base, be surrendered to the Armenian justice system.

More demonstrations were held over the following days in other Armenian cities, in front of government buildings, Russian diplomatic missions and the Russian military base. The protesters were outraged by the fact that the suspect was being kept beyond the reach of Armenian investigators and by the Armenian government’s ambivalent stance on the further course of the proceedings (initially, the Armenian Prosecutor General announced that he would not insist on the Russian soldier being surrendered to the Armenian authorities. The president and the prime minister also made rather equivocal statements only a few days after the tragedy).

Russia has made attempts to calm the situation through reconciliatory statements from the ambassador, the commander of the base and then President Putin. However, the soldier in question has not been surrendered to the Armenian authorities.