The first time I went to Armenia, we undertook a journey full of fun and unexpected adventures. We
toured bars in Yerevan, I almost burned down our host’s neighbors (via Chinese
lantern), we got lost and ended up at Azeri-Armenian border with machine guns
pointing at us.
We drove through
snowy Alpine zones, eating carrots bought from local Molokan village, we
listened to Tsoi and read names of towns that did not exist: Leninakan,
Kirovakan…
And somewhere on
our way back, we stopped at Gyumri. After obtaining interesting directions from
the locals (so if you are looking for the fish canyon, you go right, then left, then you flip the
car upside down and then go left; but the fish canyon you are looking for does
not exist), we drove by Russian army buildings and came upon fishing farm to
eat a fish dinner.
The fish canyon
works like this: you order a fish by kg-s, you take a table and they kill it
nearby (murdered my desire to eat it). It was interesting new experience for
us. The fish farm was located at foothills of old castle. Peaceful sunset was
disturbed only by hatchets beheading fishes of different kg constitution.
After forcing
fresh fish down my throat, we hurried out of the town before it got dark- we
still had to find our way back home. As I have mentioned, that scenario did not
work out (apparently all road signs were abducted by the aliens) and that’s how
we ended up in a military zone. Needless to say, we quickly moved away from the
wrong border and continued our quest for the motherland.
Last week, a
horrible tragedy happened in the same Gyumri, quiet and little town, dusty
town, with streets growing silent after sunset. A Russian soldier escape from
the Russian army base, walked into one of the houses and killed a whole family;
only smallest member, an infant survived.
The soldier was
caught and is now detained at the army base.
Armenia is in
uproar.
They demand to
bring this soldier to Armenian court; meanwhile, Russian side wants Russian
trial- the guy broke Russian law first, by deserting the army. Russian
officials do not make statements, do not apologize, just say general nonsense
like “the crime must be investigated”. Nobody addresses heartbroken, angry,
grieving people, who stage protest after protest, hoping for justice.
In addition, Russian
side made an official statement only on January 18, while events took place on January
12.
I guess nobody
in Armenia believes that he will be tried justly if he leaves the country.
I don’t know how
the whole affair might end, who blames whom, what were the reasons, is Russian army in Gyumri beneficial or detrimental.
The wounded baby died yesterday.
P.S. self-portrait against gorgeous Armenian background
