Reply given to Russia’s offer addressed to Armenia
Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin offered Armenian authorities to grant an official status to the Russian language in Armenia so that Armenian driving licenses can be recognized in the territory of Russia. According to the law, which came into force on June 1, 2017, foreign citizens are not allowed to work in the territory of Russia with their national driving licenses. According to another law adopted on July 14, national driving licenses of the citizens of several EEU member states were recognized in the territory of Russia. It refers to the member states, where the Russian language has an official status. During the meeting with Speaker of the RA NA Ara Babloyan, Volodin particularly noted, “I can only say one thing- grant an official status to Russian, and the law will automatically refer also to Armenia.” According to the interview given to News.am, Armen Ashotyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, said that at that moment he gave a relevant response and highlighted that the issue of granting an official status to Russian isn’t on the agenda of Armenia and isn’t planned to be. As for ratification of Armenian driving licenses in Russia, Armen Ashotyan noted that the parliamentary delegations of two countries agreed to continue the discussions on that issue in other parliamentary formats, trying to find the most optimal solution to the issue. “The only official language of the Republic of Armenia is Armenian, and it is a constitutional norm,” said the NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov in reply to the question by Asekose.am in connection with the offer of Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.
