Armenia expresses condolences to families of Kemerovo tragedy victims

The Armenian society deeply condoles the families of the victims of a fire in the Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall in Kemerovo, the representatives of the Armenian intelligentsia said, speaking with the correspondents of Vestnik Kavkaza.

The director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Ruben Safrastyan, stressed that the tragedy of Kemerovo residents affected the hearts of many Armenian citizens. "First of all, I want to express my deep condolences over this terrible tragedy, which claimed lives of many adults and, worst of all, children's lives. This disaster saddened not only the Russian citizens, but also many people in Armenia," he said.

"During these days, many citizens came to the Russian embassy to express their condolences, leave flowers and toys there to commemorate the dead children. This tragedy once again showed how small our planet is - the tragedy that happened thousands of kilometers from Armenia, affected people here, especially since it happened with the Russian people and Russia, with which we have long-standing friendly relations," Ruben Safrastyan added.

The Director of the Armenian branch of the CIS Institute, Alexander Makarov, noted that Armenia perceived the Russian tragedy in the same way as normal people around the world. "On the very first day, before the Russian embassy announced that it started accepting condolences, a lot of letters were sent to the ambassador Ivan Volynkin, people brought flowers and toys to the embassy building, left notes in the memory book. It was a normal human reaction that follows such tragedies," he pointed out.

"Many people monitored the news about it, tried to understand why it happened, but first of all it was pain and expression of empathy and condolences to the relatives and friends of the deceased, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to those who survived this tragedy and remain in hospital. My condolences, I'm very sorry for what happened," Alexander Markarov said.