The desecration of the monument to the children of the Leningrad blockade in Yerevan has caused protests in Russia

In May 2016, a 5.7-meter-high bronze monument was erected in Yerevan to Garegin Nzhdei, who actively collaborated with Nazi Germany during the Second World War, and the people who have mastered the idea of ​​segachronism, which he founded, take steps to cheer the spirit of the "genius leader" from time to time.

One such step was taken on January 29 by a resident of Yerevan named Samvel Shirinyan. In the snowy weather, he went to the park named after Vaaghn Davtyan, located in the Arabkir administrative district of the city, where he died during the blockade of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 during the Second World War, and from the 872-day siege. He insulted the monument erected in memory of the children who got out safely.

It should be noted that the blockade ring of Leningrad was broken on January 18, 1944. On January 27, the city was completely freed from the siege. The day when the siege ended is one of Russia's days of military glory. Moreover, in 2024, the 80th year of the significant historical event will be completed. On this occasion, on January 27, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin, veterans, members of public organizations visited the monument and laid a wreath in front of it.

The ribbon symbolized the tricolor flag of Russia. Later, an event was held here. In his speech during the event, the ambassador said, as if he foresaw the event that would happen two days later: "Today, we pay our respects to the memory of those who lost their lives at the front, those who stood up for the defense of Leningrad, those who died without surrendering in besieged Leningrad, and those who restored the destroyed city. This is very important, because today the protection of the memory of the bravery of our people and the representatives of all nations who gave us victory is facing a problem." Then the diplomat presented Galina Fyodorova, a resident of Armenia, who survived the blockade, with an honorary badge awarded in honor of the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the siege.

As we mentioned, just two days later, a person named Samvel Shirinyan came to the park and insulted the "Monument to the children of besieged Leningrad". He knocked over the wreaths, threw the ribbon, which is the reflection of the national flag of the Russian Federation, and trampled on it. He took a video of his act and posted it on his "Tik-Tok" account. These words of Shirinyan are clearly heard in the video: "Maria Zakharova (official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia - S.H.) recently said that there is no evidence of ethnic cleansing in Karabakh. I wonder if there is any evidence of a blockade in Leningrad? No! There is no evidence! We have erected a monument to the fascists in Armenia. We still commemorate them!"

After the incident, the media conducted an investigation into the identity of the perpetrator. It turned out that Shirinyan is an anti-Russian person. Before that, he had repeatedly insulted Russian state officials on his social network account. His act was welcomed by social network users in Armenia. They wrote about Shirinya's actions: "I share your pain, but be careful, my dear!", "Well done, brother!", "It's an act worthy of respect!", "Long live my brother!", "If the factories worked, what kind of siege can we talk about?" !” they wrote such words.

As expected, the incident was met with protest in Russia. Vadim Fefilov, the head of the representative office of "Rossotrudnichestvo" (federal agency for work and international humanitarian cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States of Russia, compatriots and people living abroad - S.H.) in Armenia, appealed to the Prosecutor General of Armenia regarding the desecration of the memory of the besieged Leningrad children in Yerevan. Fefilov's appeal states that inciting ethnic enmity and calls for violence based on the events of the Great Patriotic War are unacceptable and those responsible for the incident should be held accountable.

The information released by the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia states that the Prosecutor's Office received the request of the local head of "Rossotrudnichestvo" and the investigation of the case will be conducted in accordance with the legislation.

Ilgar Valizadeh, head of the "South Caucasian" Discussion Club of Political Scientists, who made a statement to "XQ" on the subject, said that this incident took place against the background of the strengthening of anti-Russian sentiment in Armenia. According to him, the Armenian authorities further stimulate the existing anti-Russian tendencies in the society: "And this is necessary for the authorities to take into account that mood and build a political platform on it as a means to conduct a pro-Western policy. But it also has the opposite effect. The opposite effect manifests itself in such cases. Such behavior of people is, in fact, a manifestation of anti-Russian policy. By the way, it should be noted that in general, not only anti-Russian tendencies are observed in Armenian society. Anti-Israeli tendencies also prevail. That is, there is the same attitude towards the Jews. This relationship is based on Russia's neutrality in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and Israel's close military-technical cooperation with our country."

According to Ilgar Valizadeh, the Armenian society used to be more Russian-oriented, but now it is Western-oriented: "This Western-orientedness is also stimulated by various means. But regardless of whether it is pro-Russian or pro-Western, its main pillars remain intact. Garegin Njde is a pillar of Armenian society. The idea of ​​segachronism is their main ideology. They also have other monuments. They also erected a monument to Drastamat Kanayan.

He also cooperated with the fascists. Also, terrorist Monte Melkonyan was raised to the level of a hero in Armenia. These are examples for the Armenian people. Unfortunately, no action is taken in such cases. Actually, denazification should be done in Armenia. But we see the opposite. Fascist henchmen are raised to the level of heroes. This leads to an increase in the number of fascist-minded people. The main factor causing the increase is the policy of the Armenian authorities. Yerevan's policy is based on these factors. Although there are changes in foreign political orientation, the main ideological base of nationalism in Armenia unfortunately remains unchanged.

The military and political commentator Rizvan Huseynov stated that both the Armenian society and the government are proud of people like Garegin Njde, who was a henchman of the Nazis, General Drastamat Kanayan, who collaborated with the Third Reich and was one of the founders of the Armenian Legion of the Wehrmacht. A few years ago, a monument to terrorist Sogomon Teyliryan, the murderer of Mehmet Talat Pasha, a state and political figure of the Ottoman Empire, was erected in Armenia. In recent years, we have repeatedly tried to direct the world's attention to the propagation of Nazism and racism in the so-called independent Armenia.

Unfortunately, for some reason, the world ignores itself when it comes to Armenia. Why does such a situation in Armenia not cause any reaction in the countries of the world and international organizations? Currently, Armenia is the only country in the world where the works, charters and some correspondence of the founder of Armenian fascism, Garegin Njde, are published."

However, R. Huseynov noted that it is also possible that the person who committed the known incident is connected to various groups and political circles that want to strain Armenia-Russia relations, and may receive orders from them: "In any case, many points will be revealed during the investigation of the incident. It is not necessary to look at who caused this event, but for whom it is interesting. I think that in the near future it will be revealed who is behind the incident."

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