GYUMRI MILITARY BASE COMMANDER TO ASSUME DUTIES ON MARCH 30

Interfax, Russia
March 29 2015

GYUMRI Armenia. March 29

The new commander of Russia’s 102nd military base in Armenia will
assume duties on Monday, Oleg Lebedev, first vice chairman of the
State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, told leaders of the Shirak
region in Gyumri.

Lebedev heads the Russian part of a joint parliamentary commission,
set up after Russian soldier Valery Permyakov killed a family of
seven members in Gyumri on January 12.

He did not announce the name of the new commander. However, Interfax
has learned that the Russian military base will be under Maj. Gen.

Ustinov’s command.

Russian lawmakers, led by the Committee’s chairman Leonid Slutsky,
have arrived in Gyumri to lay flowers at the grave of the murdered
Armenian family.

Asked about the circumstances of an almost instant killing of all
members of the Avetisian family, Lebedev said that the murder had
been committed by Permyakov alone.

Lebedev also said that the inquiry is being personally overseen
by President Vladimir Putin and that Investigative Committee chief
Alexander Bastrykin keeps the president regularly updated. He confirmed
that Permyakov would be tried in Gyumri, and that 4,000 witnesses
had been questioned and 19 expert assessment procedures conducted.