YEREVAN, JULY 17, ARMENPRESS. Armen Ashoyan, chairman of the parliamentary foreign relations committee responded to Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin’s statement, whereby the latter had porposed to the Armenian authorities to grant the Russian language an official status in Armenia in order to solve the problem of Armenian driving licenses in Russia.

“At that moment when the Russian State Duma head voices such an idea I made a response speech and I emphasized that there is no issue of constitutional status of Russian language in the Armenian agenda and it isn’t planned. I am sorry that some Russian media outlets presented the content of the discussion partially”, Ashotyan told ARMENPRESS.

Regarding the validity of Armenian driving licenses in Russia, Ashotyan mentioned that the parliamentary delegations of the two countries agreed to continue discussions in other parliamentary formats. Namely in order to attempt and find the most optimal options of solution through parliamentary hearings.

Vyacheslav Voloding suggested Armenia to grant official status to Russian language in the country in order for Armenian driving licenses to be valid in their country.

From June 1, 2017, a Russian law came into force banning people having foreign driving licenses in Russia. On July 14, the parliament of Russia passed a law according to which citizens of countries where Russian is an official language, for instance Kirgizstan, are allowed to work on their national licenses.