Member of Russia’s Armavir City Duma Alexey Vinogradov painted the commemorative plaque dedicated to Armenian military and political leader Garegin Nzdeh, placed in the territory of the Armenian church. The action was met with controversies. The vandal filmed his actions and shared through various means of communications.
Clarifying his actions, Vinogradov said that November 11 was the deadline of demounting the plaque, as promised by the City Duma. However, the promise was not fulfilled, so he decided to “take the matter into his hands”.
The Embassy of Armenia to Russia has released a statement concerning the incident, which reads: “The actions of the member of Armavir City Duma of Krasnodar Krai do not conform to the Armenian-Russian relations and can lead to tension between the nations.”
The diplomatic representation calls upon the city authorities of Armavir to give appropriate assessment to the incident, assuring that the Embassy will keep it in the spotlight.
President of the Armenian community of Armavir Grigory Karapetyan is in Armenia. According to him, deputy Vinogradov “could not reconcile with such turn of events”, which is why “he expressed his civil position by painting the Garegin Nzdeh plaque black.”
