Aravot received official letters from the Roskomnadzor that the Russian version of the newspaper was removed from the registry of websites that violated the law on providing personal details.
We confirmed that the website is now reachable in Russia.
Aravot had been banned in Russia due to not complying with the Roskomnadzor’s demands regarding the article titled “Shavarsh Kocharyan: ‘Ruben Tatulyan deals with issues in the Armenian community of Sochi.’” They had demanded that we remove all details about Tatulyan.
When the website had already been banned, we received another warning to remove details about Ruben Tatulyan in a different article. This article was about a list published by the United States Department of Treasury regarding people and organizations that have connections with criminals and thieves in law. Ruben Tatulyan’s name was on this list.
After the first ban, the head of the Armenian Journalists’ Union, Satik Seyranyan, appealed to the Armenian embassy in Russia and to the Roskomnadzor.
Then, when it became clear that the number of websites banned in Russia was around ten, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs got involved.
The Armenian ambassador to Russia, Vardan Toghanyan, met with the leadership of the Roskomnadzor. We can assume that the lift on the ban was a result of agreements that were made.
Anna Israyelyan
