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Today we mourn with the Armenian people, said President of Russia Vladimir Putin in his speech on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd.

The Russian President reminded in his speech that 1.5mln civilians were killed and around six hundred thousand Armenians expelled from their own homeland and were subjected to mass scale persecutions, outstanding architectural monuments were destroyed, ancient books and valuable manuscripts were burned.

“The events of 1915 shocked the entire world, and in Russia those were perceived as our own sorrow. Hundreds of thousands of people were sheltered in Russia and thus saved. It was the Russian diplomacy that enabled the international condemnation of what had been perpetrated against the Armenian people, and the President of France just mentioned about it, the Joint Declaration of Russia, France and Great Britain called those events crimes against humanity and statehood,” President Putin said in his remarks.

Speaking about the relations with Armenia on their present stage, Putin characterized it with ever-present affection and mutual support that has been in place for a number of centuries.

“Today we mourn with the Armenian people. Across hundreds of Russian cities… more than two thousand commemoration events will be held. Not only Russians, but also other nationalities in Russia will take part in them. Russia has always had its consistent position, and continues doing so. We have always considered that mass killings are impossible to justify in any ways,” Putin said. 

He underlined that through remembrance of the events of the past, the future shall be embraced with optimism.

“We shall be able to express kindness, respect mutual interests, and come to terms, since that is the only way towards making a better world, more sustainable and more secure. We are standing with you, dear friends,” Putin concluded.

Russia has recognized the Armenian Genocide on April 14, 1995.