President of Russia Vladimir Putin has released a statement on the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
“Today we bow in memory of hundreds of thousands of victims of the Armenian Genocide, one of the most horrific tragedies of the 20th century,” Putin said in a statement published by the Kremlin.
“The brutal massacre of unarmed, innocent people—who were killed, injured, and forcibly displaced from their native towns and villages—shocked the entire civilized world, and its devastating consequences have clearly demonstrated where the incitement of religious hatred, nationalism, and xenophobia can lead.
I would like to note that our country’s position on this issue has always remained unchanged. It was already reflected in the joint declaration of Russia, Great Britain, and France in May 1915, which condemned the violence against the Armenian people as a crime against humanity and civilization, and later, in a new historical stage, in the State Duma’s statement of April 14, 1995.
We are convinced that policies of mass extermination and deportation based on national identity have no justification and cannot have any, and that the international community must unite its efforts so that such barbarity is never repeated anywhere.
The persecutions and repressions of those years became an unhealed wound for many generations, yet the catastrophe and its aftermath united people who demonstrated devotion to traditions, wisdom, and courage. I am confident that in the future as well, the sons and daughters of Armenia will preserve their national identity, their millennia-old culture, language, freedom, and spiritual values.
I wish the friendly Armenian people prosperity, well-being, and all the best,” he said.
