Armenian Church In Russia Damaged By Blast

An explosion rocked the Armenian church in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar early on Friday, according to a local Armenian newspaper.

Tigran Tavadian, editor of the “Yerkramas” newspaper, told RFE/RL on Monday that the blast was caused by an unknown explosive device and seriously damaged the church door. No one was hurt in what he called a “terrorist attack” aimed at further intimidating the Krasnodar Krai’s large Armenian community.

Tavadian said local police refused to open a criminal case into the incident after concluding that it most probably resulted from an accidental explosion of a fire-cracker. “This was clearly a terrorist act because it is impossible to cause so much damage with a fire-cracker,” he said.

Krasnodar has been the scene of a series of violent anti-Armenian incidents for much of this year, which local Armenian widely blame on the regional authorities led by Governor Aleksandr Tkachov. Visiting Yerevan with a top Kremlin official late last month, Tkachov assured President Robert Kocharian and other Armenian leaders that he has put an end to such attacks.