Russian Language Issue Left out of “Agenda” Program of H1 Public TV

Recently there was a scandal related to the meeting of RA National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan and Chairman of Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin in Moscow, during which the issue of the recent obstacles in Russia regarding Armenian driver’s licenses was raised by the Armenian side, and the Russian side made a counter proposal to make Russian an official language in Armenia in order to solve the issue.

However, the scandal was left out of the RA Public TV Company’s reportage about the meeting.

“The issue of Artsakh conflict was a priority during the meeting of heads of legislative bodies of Armenia and Russia. National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan discussed the latest provocation of Azerbaijan with Vyachislav Volodin and reminded that Azerbaijan would have avoided victims if they had remained faithful to Vienna and Saint Petersburg agreements. Armenian and Russian legislators discussed issues of bilateral interest, arranged to address them later as well and find solutions”.

This was all H1 TV wanted the viewers to see and know about the scandalous meeting. However, the public, the provision of objective information to whom is trusted to the Public Television, was more interested in and concerned about another part of that meeting.

During the meeting in Moscow, Armenian and Russian officials discussed the ban on conducting a professional activity in Russia with drivers’ licenses issued in Armenia, in response to which Chairman of Russian State Duma Volodin offered Babloyan to revise the status of the Russian language in Armenia and make it an official language.

Commenting on the law that entered into force on July 1 and according to which those with foreign drivers’ licenses are not allowed to work as drivers in the Russian territory, Volodin had said, “There is only one thing I can tell you… Fix it [Russian] as an official language, and in that case the law will automatically include the Republic of Armenia as well”. 

The response to Volodin’s statement was rather quick. Ara Babloyan, Edmon Marukyan, Eduard Sharmazanov, Armen Ashotyan and many other politicians responded to it. In fact, it became the number one issue of the political agenda for a few days.

That the Public Television newsletter is mainly based on official information is not a secret. However, this time even the press release of the official website of the RA National Assembly includes information about the disagreement over making Russian an official language. Nevertheless, H1 considered it more important to use the time on the reportage telling about shooting of Indian soap operas i Armenia.