ArmInfo. On January 26, a delegation headed by Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov, composed of MPs Hayk Babukhanyan and Romik Manukyan, accompanied by the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Makarov, attended the opening of the monument "The Courage of the Defenders of Our City". St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko also attended the ceremony.
The initiator of the monument is philanthropist G. Pogosyan. The honor of opening the monument was given to Eduard Sharmazanov, Georgy Poltavchenko and G. Pogosyan.
The Vice Speaker of the National Assembly delivered a speech in which, in particular, he noted: "Dear colleagues, the struggle against fascism and Nazism in the Great Patriotic War is a joint victory of our peoples." From the very first days of the war, hundreds of thousands of Armenians went to the front to protect humanity from fascist enslavement. The heroic defense of Leningrad is one of the most significant events of the Great Patriotic War, where nearly twenty thousand sons of the Armenian people died. The indisputable weighty role of the Armenian people in the defense of Leningrad is defensible.In defending Leningrad, they defended from fascism also to Armenia, Anastas Mikoyan led the food supply of the blockaded city and the front, Admiral Isakov defended Leningrad on the Baltic Sea, Iosif Orbeli, the world- famous Orientalist, organized the evacuation of museum exhibits of the Hermitage and the sky of Leningrad was guarded by Nelson Stepanyan. "
"Dear friends, today, when we open this monument, we once again say our decisive" no "to any manifestation of fascism, Nazism and xenophobia.The defense of Leningrad is a single victory for our peoples, and we have no right to consign this heroic feat," said Sharmazanov .