"It happens so that in the heat of time and events, different phenomena are perceived in different ways. But the great thing about time is that over time
things clear up, misunderstandings and disagreements disappear and everything returns to normal", Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said when responding to Ukrainian film director Olena Fetisova's refusal to attend the annual Armenian Presidential Award Ceremony.
According to the RFE/RL Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am), at the award ceremony Serzh Sargsyan said that he had received a letter from Fetisova, who was writing about the reasons of her refusal to visit Yerevan. "I will pass the state award on to her through her colleagues and, in accordance with her wish, we will use its financial component for benevolent purposes," Sargsyan said. "I understand Ms. Fetisova's motives but I want to appeal to the distinguished lady and the Ukrainian people by saying that we are brotherly peoples." "For centuries, we fought shoulder to shoulder against aggressors. We have thousands of glorious pages of common history. This has been the case and this will be the case," he said.
Olena Fetisova, the Ukrainian screenwriter, producer and co-director of a new feature film about the late Sergey Paradjanov, addressed an open letter in Russian and English to President Sargsyan. She pointed out that her participation in the award ceremony was impossible because of the Armenian President's stance on the Crimean referendum. "I would like to kindly ask you to convey my part of the remuneration of the State Prize of Armenia to the Armenian orphans," she said. "I am sure that Sergey Paradjanov would do the same."