BREAKING NEWS: Ruslan Tsarni Apologizes to Armenian Community

April 30, 2013

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By Alin K. Gregorian

Mirror-Spectator Staff

WATERTOWN — On April 30, Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of alleged terror suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, contacted the Mirror-Spectator directly to issue an apology to the Armenian community for his recent statements referencing Armenians in his discussions of the Boston Marathon bombings.

“Armenia has a very strong culture, therefore, I want to stress that his [Misha’s] ethnicity has nothing to do with it,” Tsarni said. “I wish I had never said it.”

Tsarni added, “I felt for you [Armenians] and wish I had never done it.”

He once again apologized for connecting the Armenian community “to this evil event.”

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In previous media statements, Tsarni had discussed a recent convert to Islam named “Misha” — now reported as Mikhail Allakhverdova — stressing that he was of “Armenian descent” while implicating the man in the possible “brainwashing” of Tamerlan Tsarnev with notions of violence against non-Muslims.

Tsarni spoke briefly on the matter via phone, but said he was unable to comment further or answer additional questions. A reverse phone number search traced and confirmed that the phone call came from a Maryland cell phone issued to Tsarni.