YEREVAN—“We are shocked by the tragedy of the passenger plane crash that claimed the lives of 298 people,” Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan said in comments to news.am.

 

”We express condolences to the relatives of innocent victims, to all those countries, whose citizens lost their lives as a result of the tragedy. The President of the Republic of Armenia on the behalf of the Armenian people has already sent condolence letters to the heads of Malaysia and the Netherlands,” he said.

Asked to comment on the information that the plane was shot down, Balayan said “only a comprehensive investigation of the accident can shed light on the causes of the plane crash.”

”Armenia has always condemned and continues to consider the use of force and the threat of force against civilian aircraft absolutely unacceptable,” he concluded.

On Friday, President Serzh Sarkisian sent a telegram of condolence to King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Sultan Tuanku Abdul Halim of Malaysia on the tragic crash of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 airplane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, which claimed hundreds of lives.

The Armenian President extended his deepest condolences and support to the King of the Netherlands, the Prime Minster and the Sultan of Malaysia, as well as to the relatives of the victims and the friendly peoples of the Netherlands and Malaysia, and wished them patience, steadfastness and strong spirit in this difficult moment.

According to the information provided by the Dutch authorities to the Armenian Embassy in The Hague, there were no citizens of the Republic of Armenia in the plane that was shot down in Ukraine near the Russian border, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

The plane was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 295 people on board were killed.

Wreckage on the ground of the MH317 flight