Russian delegation visits Tsitsernakaberd

ArmInfo.  The delegation, led by Dmitry Aristov, Head of the Russian Bailiff Service, who arrived in Armenia on an official visit, visited the Tsitsernakaberd memorial  complex to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

According to the press service of the Armenian Genocide  Museum-Institute, the guests were welcomed and accompanied by Acting  Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum, Hrachya Tashchyan.

The guests laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the  Armenian Genocide, after which the delegation members laid flowers at  the eternal flame and honored the memory of the victims with a moment  of silence. The Russian delegation visited the Armenian Genocide  Museum and toured the permanent and temporary exhibitions, after  which Dmitry Aristov signed the Book of Distinguished Guests.

Expressing gratitude for the visit, Acting Director of the Armenian  Genocide Museum Hrachya Tashchyan presented Dmitry Aristov with an  illustrated book from the Armenian Genocide Museum in Russian and a  Russian edition of Raymond Gevorgyan's book "The Armenian Genocide  and Its Consequences." Finally, Dmitry Aristov planted a fir tree in  the Memorial Park in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

On April 14, 1995, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the  Russian Federation adopted a statement "On Condemnation of the  Genocide of the Armenian People in 1915-1922." It stated that it was  adopted based on irrefutable historical facts testifying to the  extermination of Armenians in Western Armenia from 1915 to 1922. It  also noted that the physical extermination of the fraternal Armenian  people in their historical homeland was committed with the goal of  creating conditions for the destruction of Russia. The State Duma  condemned the perpetrators of the extermination of Armenians,  expressed sympathy for the Armenian people, and recognized April 24  as Genocide Remembrance Day.

Furthermore, on April 24, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin  participated in a commemoration ceremony for the victims of the  Armenian Genocide, which took place at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial  Complex. In his speech, the Russian head of state stated that the  events of 1915 shocked the entire world, while in Russia they were  perceived as a personal tragedy, noting that hundreds of thousands of  defenseless and homeless Armenians had received refuge in Russia and  were saved. The president also recalled that it was Russian diplomacy  that secured international condemnation of the violence against the  Armenian people. At the initiative of Foreign Minister Sergei  Sazonov, as early as 1915, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom  issued a joint statement explicitly calling the events a crime  against humanity and civilization.