The gas balloons that went off in Yerevan’s Republic Square at the ruling Republican Party’s final pre-election concert-rally early in May turn out to have been charged with methane.

In an interview with the paper, Arsen Ayvazyan, the head of the Chief Investigative Department of the Police, said that they have already an expert conclusion confirming the fact.

“Yes, all were thinking of that but the inquest body could not issue a statement without having the final result. With a conclusion already close at hand, we can now say for sure that the balloons, all 7,000 of them, were filled with methane,” he said.

Asked where the balloons were charged, Ayvazyan answered that they will unveil additional details in that connection in the near future.

“It is already known who charged the balloons, how and where. That's clear now; let us confine ourselves to conclusions for the present moment; all other details will be made public after additional processes are over. The conclusion says that a cigarette could not have caused such an explosion. It explicitly says that the blast occurred under the influence of an open fire,” he explained.