Pashinyan rules out 'terror attack' option in shopping centre incident

Chairman of Armenia’s Investigative Committee Argishti Kyaramyan has said that there was no factual evidence that would testify to a terrorist attack or other intentional crime.

Kyaramyan made the remarks at a regular government meeting, Caliber.Az reports citing Armenian media.

According to him, within the framework of the criminal case initiated on the fact of the explosion in the Surmalu shopping centre, different options of what caused the blast are being considered. The existing proofs are more evidence of a crime that occurred through negligence.

Referring to the video footage of the explosion, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that "it is clear that the logic of any terrorist act is ruled out".

“After such an incident, the first question that arises in my mind is the following: what did the government not do to prevent such a development of events? Even after the explosion in Beirut in August 2020, I instructed the relevant departments to collect information on all possible objects and companies that deal with explosives. One of the first things I did after the incident was that I tried to get a report on this mission. In this regard, the information is being summarized,” he said and instructed the head of the State Supervision Service, Romanos Petrosyan, to study how the instruction given to him is being carried out.

“In the spring of 2021, violations were recorded. I need deep research,” he added.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made this statement after the day before the Russian Embassy in Armenia issued a statement in which it sharply condemned the rumours and comments circulated in the Armenian information space that the Russian structures are involved in the explosion in the Surmalu shopping centre in Yerevan. A note of protest was also sent to the Armenian Foreign Ministry.