"I see no national component in the incident taken place at the village cemetery July 29, 2005," stated head of the Baranovsky village district of Sochi city Ardavazd Peklivanyan at a joint news conference with the Sochi Administration, law-enforcement bodies and representatives of the Sochi branch of all-Russian NGO Union of Armenians of Russia (UAR). As the Yerkramas newspaper of Armenians of Russia reported referring to the Sochi Department of Internal Affairs, Khosta district Administration Chief Igor Seleznyov, Deputy Head of the Section of Internal Affairs of Khosta district of Sochi, Criminal Police Chief, colonel Aleksandr Zhukov, Chairman of the UAR Central District of Sochi branch Stepan Kagosyan, Chairman of the UAR Khosta district of Sochi branch Oganes Chepnyan. In the course of the news conference I. Seleznyov described the circumstances of the event and evaluated it, saying, "29 gravestones are destroyed at the cemetery of Verkhny Yurt village. Those, who committed something of the king, have lost their human face. Things like that should be punished. When they are found, they will be shown on the local TV - Sochi residents should know these rogues in the face." He also said a special commission is formed to follow the situation. No family, whose relatives' monuments were destroyed, will remain without attention. Assistance will be provided to them. Aleksandr Zhukov informed those present about the investigation course, "Practice shows most of crimes of the kind are committed having hooligan motives. The criminals represent a group of minors or young people as a rule. We have experience in revealing such crimes. A similar one was committed this April at the Central district cemetery. Those guilty are already charged at present. Proceedings are instituted on the article 244 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Police are now gathering information." Mr. Zhukov also noted that the Khosta Regional Section of Internal Affairs personnel are involved in the search for the criminals. He emphasized that the investigation revealed no national motives of the occurrence - the cemetery is an ancient one, gravestones of not only Armenians, but also Russians are demolished there. The word "schizophrenia" written on the tombstones also evidences it. The investigators now consider several versions. However two of these are the basic ones: the crime was committed either by persons with mental disorder or those with hooligan motives. When answering journalists' question A. Peklivanyan noted people of diverse nationalities and faith are buried at the cemetery. He stated he did not see any indication of national manifestation in the incident either. He also addressed the families of the victims, asking to patiently wait for the outcomes of the investigation. Mr. Peklivanyan also addressed the media, asking not to use the incident to sow discord. Concluding his speech, he said material assistance and moral support will be provided to the families. S. Kagosyan and O. Chepnyan joined his request. They also noted they do not see any nationalist signs in the incident and promised support in restoration of the destroyed gravestones. "The criminal does not have either a faith or nationality. Those, who committed this crime should be correspondingly punished," stated S. Kagosyan. At the end of the news conference A. Zhukov addressed Sochi residents, asking to report any information on the crime. The Sochi Police will do its best to identify the criminals, he assured. It should be reminded that unknown persons destroyed 29 gravestones at a cemetery 5km away from Verkhny Yurt village of Khosta district of Sochi. As we have reported earlier, most graves (28 out of the 29 according to the data available) belong to Armenians.