Yerevan: Information about the connection of Ashot Smbatyan with the  mafia in Germany was not confirmed

ArmInfo.The law enforcement agencies of Germany did not confirm the information on the connection of the Ambassador of Armenia to Germany Ashot Smbatyan  with the mafia operating in the country. The press secretary of the  Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan stated this on November 13  at a press conference in Yerevan.

The representative of the Foreign Ministry recalled that immediately  after the publication of this, the official Yerevan turned to the  appropriate structures in Germany to clarify the veracity of this  information.  "The information was not confirmed. Moreover, the court  in Germany made a decision according to which she ordered  publications from dw.com and Der Spiegel, as well as all other media  that reprinted this information, to remove all excerpts related to  the Embassy and our Ambassador," the spokeswoman said RA MFA.

At the same time, she stressed that attempts to hinder the natural  activities of the Armenian diplomatic mission were not crowned with  success and the Embassy is working towards the development and  strengthening of Armenian-German relations.

Earlier, dw.com with reference to Der Spiegel published an article  stating that for three years the German police tried to arrest  members of the Armenian mafia in this country, but the threat  investigation did not recommend accepting the help of the Armenian  embassy in Germany in the investigation. In the article, in  particular, it was noted that the criminals from the Caucasus region  had built a powerful network in Germany, for three years the  investigators in the framework of the secret operation tried to  detain and arrest the representatives of the Armenian mafia, but  without particular success. "A strictly classified special operation,  codenamed Fight against thieves in law, was conducted by the Federal  Criminal Police Office (FCPO) in conjunction with six land  specialized agencies (LCA). This operation was one of the largest  investigations on organized crime in Germany.  "Thieves in law" are  described in the investigation materials as high-ranking authorities  from Russian- Eurasian organized crime. They also control Armenian  mafia structures in Germany. Employees of the Federal Intelligence  Service BND and Europol helped the criminal investigation team in the  investigation.  The "point of reference" was the exchange of fire  between two criminal clans, which occurred in July 2014 in Erfurt.  Then 14 criminal cases were opened against 42 people suspected of  financial fraud. According to the LCA. experts, the Armenian mafia in  Germany "really exists." Together with other groups from the  Russian-Eurasian criminal circles, it has "substantial financial"  resources and can "threaten the foundations of the rule of law."  However, due to lack of evidence, the results of the investigations  have not yet led to accusations and criminal cases. In addition, the  topic of crime touched upon diplomatic relations.  According to Der  Spiegel and MDR, the ambassador of Armenia to Germany, Ashot  Smbatyan, offered his German investigators assistance in the fight  against the Armenian mafia. However, the LCA recommended not agreeing  to this cooperation, noting that the investigators do not exclude the  connections of thieves in the law with representatives of state  structures of Armenia. As a result, more than 70 operational search  activities involving thousands of police officers who were  simultaneously in six regions of the kingdom, more than 140 suspects  in the arms trade and drug smuggling, money laundering and the  creation of clandestine sweepstakes were detained, "the newspaper  wrote.