RF president reaffirms Russia`s position on Armenian Genocide

ArmInfo.  In his message to participants in the commemorative events dedicated to the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Russian President Vladimir  Putin stated that Russia's position on this issue remains unchanged.

"Today, we bow our heads in memory of the hundreds of thousands of  victims of the Armenian Genocide - one of the most terrible tragedies  of the 20th century. The brutal massacre of defenseless, innocent  people who were killed, wounded, and expelled from their hometowns  and villages shocked the entire civilized world, and its catastrophic  consequences convincingly demonstrated the consequences of inciting  religious hatred, nationalism, and xenophobia," the Russian leader's  message reads.

In this vein, he noted that the country's position on this issue has  always been unchanged. According to him, as early as May 1915, it was  reflected in the joint Declaration of Russia, Great Britain, and  France condemning the violence against the Armenian people as a crime  against humanity and civilization, and in a more recent era of  history-in the Statement of the State Duma of April 14, 1995. "We are  confident that the policy of mass extermination and deportation of  people based on ethnicity cannot and will never be justified, and the  international community must join forces to ensure that such  barbarity never happens again.

The persecution and repression of those years have left an unhealed  wound for many generations of Armenians, but the tragedy they endured  united people who demonstrated a strong commitment to tradition,  wisdom, and courage. I am confident that the sons and daughters of  Armenia will continue to cherish their national identity,  millennia-old culture, language, freedom, and spiritual values. I  wish the friendly Armenian people well-being, prosperity, and all the  best," Putin stated.

On April 14, 1995, the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the  Russian Federation adopted a statement "On Condemnation of the  Genocide of the Armenian People in 1915-1922." It stated that it was  adopted based on irrefutable historical facts testifying to the  extermination of Armenians in Western Armenia from 1915 to 1922. It  also noted that the physical annihilation of the fraternal Armenian  people in their historical homeland was committed with the aim of  creating conditions for the destruction of Russia. The State Duma  condemned the organizers of the extermination of Armenians, expressed  sympathy for the Armenian people, and recognized April 24 as Genocide  Remembrance Day.

Furthermore, on April 24, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin  participated in a commemoration ceremony for the victims of the  Armenian Genocide, which took place at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial  Complex. In his speech, the Russian head of state stated that the  events of 1915 shocked the entire world, and in Russia they were  perceived as their own grief, noting that hundreds of thousands of  defenseless and homeless Armenians had received refuge in Russia and  were saved. The President also recalled that it was Russian diplomacy  that achieved international condemnation of the violence against the  Armenian people.  At the initiative of Foreign Minister Sergei  Sazonov, back in 1915, Russia, France, and Great Britain issued a  joint statement explicitly calling the incident a crime against  humanity and civilization.