According to today's The Voice of Russia website, Russian language courses for Syrian-Armenians now residing in Armenia were opened at "Rossotrudnichestvo" offices in Yerevan.

This Russian Federal Agency was set up by Presidential decree, signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on 6 September 2008, with the aim of maintaining Russia's influence in the Commonwealth of Independent States, and to foster friendly ties for the advancement of Russia's political and economic interests in foreign states.

The Voice of Russia writes that the lessons were at the request of a group of refugees who discovered upon their arrival in Armenia that "Russian was the second official language" and that knowledge of it was necessary for living a full life within the Armenian community.

Funny, but Article 12 of the RA Constitution simply states: "The state language of the Republic of Armenia is Armenian". It makes no mention of western or eastern Armenia, let alone Russian.

True, some private companies and state agencies may require knowledge of Russian for employment purposes, but that's an entirely different matter.

Nine refugees have enrolled in the courses so far and more groups of Armenians wanting to learn Russian will be formed in the near future, the site says.