On August 25, Vahan Hunanyan, the spokesman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, said, "We have reacted to the letter from the Russian embassy in the proper manner. We do not think its dissemination to be acceptable since the note's contents are part of the internal diplomatic record."
He did not go into more detail.
On August 17, Caucasus Watch reported that the Russian Embassy in Armenia denied Russian participation in the massive explosion that tore through Yerevan's Surmalu retail district and filed a complaint to the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
In a Facebook post, the embassy expressed displeasure at the cynical sensationalism circulating in the local information space carrying blasphemous and false claims against Russia for involvement in the explosion. "We consider this a clear provocation by the political forces behind such insinuations, intended to undermine Russian-Armenian allied relations. We anticipate action from Armenia's government, including the requisite public statements, to halt such hostile manifestations," the statement stated. "Claims that Russia was somehow connected to the Surmalu explosion, which happened at a facility housing pyrotechnics, have gained traction on Armenian social media platforms this week. Although terrorism has been ruled out as the cause of the explosion, it is still unknown what set off the fireworks," it added.
