The Russian version of Aravot has received letters from our compatriots in Russia on Facebook that it has been two days since they were able to read our publications. Additional checks became proof that the Russian version of Aravot has been banned in Russia. This was not a surprise for us since we did not wish to carry out the wishes of the “Roskomnadzor” (Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) again.
But we must tell the backstory.
A few months ago, we received a letter from Ruben Tatulyan’s lawyers, who used the Russian law to demand denial from us regarding an article we reposted from Prime Crime about how the names of all the people who were detained in the Czech Republic in order to prevent a meeting of thieves in law were published. There were also Armenians on this list: Ruben Tatulyan, Andronik Momjyan, and Vachagan Tashjian. There were more details about Ruben Tatulyan, also known as Robson. According to the source, there were also plans to anoint new thieves in law. In response to this, we said that we were not the ones who originally wrote the article. Aravot has never refused to issue a public denial, not during this case, and never before. But we never received any response.
Regarding the same publication, we received a letter on January 24th from the Roskomnadzor, which referred to a decision made on January 17, 2017, by the court in the Taganskaya district of Moscow that the Russian law regarding the publication of personal details was violated. There was a warning that, in the case of not removing the violation within one working day, our website, domain, and site reachability would be banned within three days in the Russian Federation.
Ruben Tatulyan’s name, last name, patronymic, and birth date were truly included in the Prime Crime article. We edited the article and removed his information, as well as the information of everyone else mentioned. We received a letter on January 25th from the Roskomnadzor that our website was removed from the list of sites that violated the law on personal details.
We, however, received another letter from the Roskomnadzor on January 29th, which used the same law and same court decision as a basis for their demand for us to remove personal details from another publication. Here is the translation of an excerpt from the Armenian version of that publication:
“We know that people need to be observed and discussed from all sides. He also plays a positive role. There is a large Armenian community in Sochi, and sometimes, problems arise in connection to the community. He often is able to solve those problems… let’s fixate on that. Regarding the issue of the advisors, he is no longer an advisor,” Armenian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shavarsh Kocharyan told Aravot when asked how a thief in law was able to become the Advisor of the Armenian Foreign Minister. This is in regard to infamous thief in law Ruben Tatulyan (Robson). He was placed on America’s blacklist. In his latest scandalous interview, he stated that he is the minister’s advisor, he travels in a car that has an embassy’s license, and he has a diplomatic passport. Shavarsh Kocharyan said that the MFA has officially stated that Tatulyan is no longer an advisor, and besides that, he was not an official advisor. Kocharyan was asked what sort of advice Tatulyan gave to Eduard Nalbandyan. Kocharyan said that he doesn’t know since he was never present. Shavarsh Kocharyan does not personally know Ruben Tatulyan. He saw him twice in Moscow but never asked for his advice. He also said that he believes Ruben Tatulyan no longer has a diplomatic passport. The recallment process is not clear. Aravot asked if it happens often that the MFA asks for help from the local Armenian thieves in law in order to solve issues with different countries. Shavarsh Kocharyan did not like this question. “That’s enough.”
We did not make any changes to the publication this time. The problem was not that, according to our sources, the court had not examined this case and would not do so until February 26th. It seems that one of Moscow’s courts can accept the case without our knowledge and ban the publication about the Armenian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. And ban the entire website if the demand is not fulfilled within 24 hours, which has already been done.
According to our sources, Aravot is not the only newspaper that has received such a letter from the Roskomnadzor.
