Two Russian soldiers stationed in Gyumri have been detained in Armenia after allegedly beating Ukrainian citizen Dmytro Samuelenko, RFE/RL reported. The incident reportedly took place around a month ago. Armenian authorities told the media that the two were being held in an Armenian penitentiary on suspicion of causing minor bodily harm. Neither the Russian nor Ukrainian authorities have commented on the incident. Russia’s 102nd Military Base in Gyumri was established in the 1940s and is believed to house more than 3,000 Russian military personnel. It has long served as a key part of Russia’s military presence in the South Caucasus. According to RFE/RL, Samuelenko had contacted law enforcement, reporting that he had been beaten by two soldiers in Gyumri’s Ani district. It is not the first time that the base has been at the centre of controversy after Russians at the base have committed crimes against local residents. In 2015, a Russian soldier, Valery Permyakov, killed seven members of an Armenian family in Gyumri. He was convicted to life imprisonment, after serving his sentence in Russia’s military base in Armenia, was later transferred to Russia in May 2017. Several years later, in December 2018, a local woman, Julieta Ghazaryan, was beaten to death in the streets of Gyumri by Russian soldier Andrei Razgildeyev. He was released in June, after serving a seven and a half years prison sentence. Earlier in November, the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly reported another incident which involved Russian soldiers. The civil rights group published a video it had received showing ‘masked servicemen from Russia’s 102nd Military Base in Gyumri beating and humiliating a young man’. The rights group said it had filed a crime report with Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office, prompting the Investigative Committee to launch criminal proceedings. At the time, however, ‘no one has been detained’, the civil rights group said. In its statement, civil rights group head Artur Sakunts raised concerns that ‘once again, we may see a situation in which Russian military personnel are kept at the Russian base and are not handed over to Armenian law enforcement authorities’. According to RFE/RL , the young man shown in the video is also an ethnic Russian . He is wearing civilian clothes, while the person beating him is in military uniform. However, it remains unclear whether the victim is also a serviceman or if the incident took place inside or outside the military base. The latest incident has renewed questions about the accountability of Russian military personnel stationed in Armenia and the extent to which Armenian authorities can exercise their jurisdiction over them. In previous cases involving Russian servicemen prosecuted in Armenia, the defendants have remained on the military base rather than being transferred to Armenian detention facilities. This has also affected how court proceedings were conducted — remotely, or at the Russian base. The two incidents follow the recent discussion of the possible withdrawal of the base from Armenia. Simonyan suggests some see Russia’s Gyumri base as having been a threat to Armenia Armenia’s Security Council Secretary did not give any more details. OC Media Arshaluys Barseghyan Following the most recent meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on 1 September, the latter said that Moscow could withdraw the base if Armenia requested it. ‘If Armenia believes that the Russian military base in Armenia is not needed, we will leave as early as tomorrow. But is Armenia ready for that? If so, please. We will not impose anything on anyone’, Putin said at the time. Armenian officials, including Pashinyan, subsequently said that Yerevan had not raised the issue of withdrawing the base in its discussions with Moscow. Pashinyan also said Armenia did not consider the base a ‘vital necessity’, adding that Yerevan would not object to its withdrawal but would also be ready to discuss its continued presence if Moscow wished to stay. Despite Russian officials insisting that their base was ‘a vital component of the security architecture for Armenia and the South Caucasus’, Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Alen Simonyan hinted that some in Armenia viewed the Russian military base in Gyumri as a threat.