Cigarette Extinguished After Saying 'Dishovka': Driver of Route 46

The Minister of Health, Arsen Torosyan, called the police station yesterday, June 11, and stated that the microbus serving route 46 in Yerevan should not be removed from the special protected area of the police.

This was reported today, June 12, by Rustam Vardanyan, the driver of the microbus serving route 46, in a conversation with NEWS.am. It is worth noting that on June 10, a video was circulated in which passenger Ani demanded the driver, Rustam Vardanyan, to stop smoking; however, he did not comply and instead requested that she leave the vehicle. The passenger shared the incident on her Facebook account.

After this incident, the driver was dismissed from his job, and the police took the microbus to a special protected area. The driver recounted that he was fined 30,000 drams at the police station and spent 1 hour and 20 minutes there without being allowed to retrieve the microbus from the special protected area. According to the driver, the health minister had prevented the car from being released.

“We did everything, signed everything, finished it, and I was told to approach the front desk. I left, and just 1 hour and 20 minutes later, it became my turn. The Minister of Health called the police and said, ‘Do not let that car out,’” said the driver. He shared that he is divorced and pays alimony of 35,000 drams for his two children. “Can you imagine doing that while also taking care of a home? My parents do not work; I am the only breadwinner. Today, I plan to go see Nikol and tell him I understand it's legal, but this treatment is unacceptable,” said Rustam.

When addressing the police's claim that he does not have a driver's license, he stated that he indeed has one, but there must be some error. “I have a license; they just haven’t stated whether it’s in order or not. There is a bit of confusion on their part,” he added.

Recalling the incident, Rustam mentioned that he knows passenger Ani and indicated that her way of speaking disrupted his composure. “She asked me if I would extinguish my cigarette. I don’t want to say more as it wouldn't sound nice. Before I extinguished the cigarette, she said ‘dishovka’, and I replied, ‘You’re the ‘dishovka’ here, girl.’ I know her; it was just nonsense,” he said.

Regarding the accusations and insults directed at him online, he provided his phone number and invited commenters to call him. “It would be better for me to go get some rest than to stress myself out. If you want, I can even open the door for the passenger to leave; it's all a thankless job,” the driver concluded.