During today’s briefing, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova said the following in response to an Armenian reporter’s question about Azerbaijanis desecrating a monument to heroes of the Great Patriotic War in the Armenian Avetaranots village of Askeran region of Nagorno-Karabakh:

“Russia proceeds from the fact that its principled position on the desecration of monuments is well-known, that is, any desecration of a monument is unacceptable. When it concerns the desecration of monuments to heroes of the Great Patriotic War, there can’t be any other position.

As far as your question is concerned, as soon as we received information about it, we contacted our Azerbaijani colleagues who affirmed that the Azerbaijani side has recorded acts of vandalism and destruction of monuments to deceased soldiers of the Great Patriotic War and monuments to the Great Patriotic War and inquest is being carried out to reveal such acts and that the guilty are being held liable. I’m not going to comment on the issue instead of Azerbaijan, but it seems to me that, in general, Moscow, Baku and Yerevan need to remember that the Great Patriotic War and the victory in the latter is the achievement of our peoples, and we all need to record the acts of vandalism or desecration of monuments to heroes not only in certain cases, but always.”