TASS reports this citing the press service of the lower house of the Russian parliament.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian State Duma, said that the bill proposes additional preferences to Armenian citizens, but the Armenian leadership failed to take any steps to consolidate the status of the Russian language.

“We made such decisions with regard to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as the Russian language is constitutionally enshrined in their country. As for Armenia, we see: Russian language has no status, the latest decisions absolutely do not contribute to the development of relations in this area,” Volodin said.

The document was initiated by the Russian government and adopted by the State Duma in the first reading in June 2022.

Mediamax reminds that back in June 2017, Vyacheslav Volodin proposed to enshrine the Russian language as an official one in the Armenian legislation so that the Armenian national driving licenses would be recognized in Russia.

He said then that after the Russian State Duma adopted a law giving the citizens of Kyrgyzstan, where Russian is an official language, the right to work as drivers in Russia with national licenses, “Armenian citizens were actually left out.”

“I can only say this: enshrine Russian language as an official, and the law will automatically include the Republic of Armenia as well,” Volodin said.