RF MFA critical of appointment of Artsrun Hovhannisyan as head of RA  National Defense Research University

ArmInfo.  The Russian Foreign Ministry sharply criticized the appointment of Artsrun Hovhannisyan, former official representative of the Armenian Ministry of Defense,  as head of the National Defense Research University of Armenia.

Responding to a request to comment on this appointment, made on the  recommendation of the Armenian Prime Minister, Russian Foreign  Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova noted that Moscow had taken  note of Hovhannisyan's appointment to the new position. "Last year,  he was remembered for his provocative statements aired on Armenian  television on May 9-the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory.  Specifically, he effectively expressed regret over the defeat of the  Wehrmacht troops in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, and also  claimed that the defeat of Nazi Germany thwarted Hitler's plans to  create an independent 'Greater Armenia,'" Zakharova stated.

She noted that in an open letter from Russian Ambassador to Yerevan  Sergei Kopyrkin to Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan,  published last May, as well as during high- level contacts, the  Armenian side emphasized the categorical inadmissibility of such a  desecration of the memory of our shared Victory. 

"In response, we were told that this was supposedly a 'personal  opinion' that did not reflect the official position. Meanwhile,  Armenian government agencies have not publicly responded to these  resonant statements. And the appointment of Hovhannisyan to the post  of head of the educational institution suggests that such 'opinions'  are now held in high esteem by the Armenian authorities. It seems  that in Yerevan, while striving to join 'enlightened' Europe, they  are simultaneously preparing to join a dangerous trend of rewriting  the history of World War II, which is inconvenient for Westerners,"  Zakharova added.

According to her, the ideological successors of the Nazis and  collaborators, who now occupy many high-ranking positions in Europe,  openly justify local Nazi collaborators, portraying their complicity  in the crimes of the Wehrmacht as a "national liberation struggle."  One of the main goals of this line, the Russian diplomat continued,  is to sever the shared historical memory of the peoples of the former  USSR and erase the truth about their decisive role in ridding the  world of the brown plague. "A similar strategy has been actively  implemented in the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe. As is well  known, the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv has been particularly successful  in this regard. This is probably why its leader, Zelensky, was so  warmly received in Yerevan in early May, obligingly providing a  platform for voicing vile threats against Russia. In our view, this  is a direct betrayal of the memory of the heroic deeds of the  Armenian people, whose glorious sons and daughters made a significant  contribution to our shared Victory. Any glorification of Nazism must  be subject to clear public and state condemnation.

Unfortunately, such attacks on the history of the Great Patriotic War  are complemented by other examples of attempts by the current  authorities of the republic to 'reformat' the historical memory of  the people of Armenia-the silencing of the tragedy of the Armenian  Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and the discrediting of the Armenian  Apostolic Church. To what extent this meets the real aspirations of  Armenian society remains to be seen by Armenians themselves," the  Russian Foreign Ministry representative concluded.