«No matter how much pain felt for passengers of crashed liner, it catches the eye that announcing national mourning is a political curtsey to Armenia,» head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseyeva believes. In her words, the decision on official mourning is of evident political slant, as Armenia is maybe the only country around Russia, with whom Russia has not quarreled yet. «Of course we are sorry for the people, however we regretted for Azeris, who died in the tragedy at the market in Moscow. In fact the President decides when should the people mourn, however he does not have those powers according to the Constitution. There is no special law in Russia regulating the order of announcing mourning,» Alekseyeva said.

Lawyer Alexander Harutyunov noted that the decree on national mourning is signed by the President. «As a rule the decision refers to emotions, the scale of the catastrophe and sometimes with political interests. Special relations between Armenia and Russia played their role in this case,» Harutyunov underscored, reports the Novye Izvestiya newspaper.

We note that 26 Russian citizens died at A-320 plane crash.