It is unclear to Russia why a monument to Garegin Nzhdeh was installed in Yerevan, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said during a weekly briefing in response to the question by Vestnik Kavkaza (asked a week before and similar requests sent to the ministry), on the position of the Russian diplomats on the act of glorification of the Nazi war criminal in Armenia.
"Everyone knows how we feel about the Great Patriotic War. Everyone also knows how we feel about any forms of revival and glorification of all manifestations of Nazism, neo-Nazism and extremism – it is recorded in international documents. So, it's unclear to us why such a monument was installed, as we all know of the immortal feat of the Armenian people during the Great Patriotic war," she stressed.
The diplomat noted that the Russian Foreign Ministry considers Armenia's official position to be in accordance with the resolution of the UN General Assembly "On measures against the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance". Yerevan was a coauthor of this resolution aimed at preserving the historical truth.
"I would like to emphasize that it was the Armenian delegation that voiced the joint statement of the CSTO member states to support this important initiative during the adoption of this resolution at the 70th Anniversary Session of the General Assembly. We believe that this is the official position of Yerevan and the Armenian nation," Maria Zakharova noticed.
"At the same time, we will be giving our assessment of things which, in our opinion, incompatible with the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War – [we will be doing this] on a regular basis, regardless of politics, just as we did before. There are things which must remain inviolable, regardless of some biases - it is our fundamental attitude," the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman concluded.
