ArmInfo. Vardan Toghanyan, who is completing his mission as the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the Russian Federation, made an appeal.
As Toghanyan noted, it is a great honor for him to represent the Republic of Armenia for almost five years in allied Russia, which is associated with centuries-old traditions, spiritual closeness, strong fraternal ties and a history of common achievements. "During this period, together with you, we have gone through numerous trials, the most difficult stages of our modern history. Despite the difficulties, together with the staff of the Embassy and representatives of various state bodies of the Republic of Armenia, in our activities we continued to adhere to the principles of openness and constructive cooperation in order to promote the development of a multifaceted potential of our relations and strengthening friendly ties between our peoples," he said.
The diplomat expressed sincere gratitude to the representatives of all state bodies of Russia for their daily painstaking work, mutual respect and open dialogue, to his colleagues representing foreign states in the Russian Federation, to numerous partners, various organizations, educational, educational and cultural institutions and the media for joint work and support our initiatives. "I am sincerely grateful to the Armenian community of Russia, in particular, to the Union of Armenians of Russia, individual community bodies, regional associations, initiative groups and professional communities, activists and philanthropists, who throughout the entire period continued to closely cooperate with us and make efforts to solve the problems we have tasks ahead of us. Separately, I want to express my gratitude to the Russian and New Nakhichevan diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, headed by Archbishop Yezras Nersisyan. I am sure that our spiritual heritage is the main guarantor of the preservation of our identity and the prosperity of the Armenian state," the appeal says. According to the diplomat, on his last day as the head of the diplomatic mission, he decided to make a pilgrimage to one of the monasteries in Russia, where rare materials and testimonies related to the history of the Armenian people, their spiritual wealth and heritage are stored.
According to the diplomat, on his last day as the head of the diplomatic mission, he decided to make a pilgrimage to one of the monasteries in Russia, where rare materials and testimonies related to the history of the Armenian people, their spiritual wealth and heritage are stored. Earlier, on January 19, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov presented the Order of Friendship to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Russian Federation Vardan Toghanyan. Toghanyan was awarded the Order of Friendship by a decree of the President of the Russian Federation (dated December 20, 2021). The state award was givenfor a great contribution to the strengthening of Russian-Armenian allied relations.
On January 5, 2022, by the decree of President Armen Sarkissian, Ambassador Toganyan was recalled from the post of head of the diplomatic mission in Russia. As the Armenian media noted, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was dissatisfied with the work of the ambassador, who headed the Armenian diplomatic mission in Russia even before the Velvet Revolution. Vagharshak Harutyunyan, who left the post of Minister of Defense of Armenia on July 20, 2021, was appointed the new Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the Russian Federation.
In 1999-2000 Vagharshak Harutyunyan served as Minister of Defense. Then he engaged in political activities. In 2002, he was demoted by then President Robert Kocharyan and stripped of his rank of lieutenant general. In 2019, by the decree of President Armen Sarkissian, he was reinstated in the rank. In August 2020, he was appointed chief adviser to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and at the end of November of the same year, he was appointed head of the defense department.