At the invitation of RA President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Serzg Sargsyan, about 80 Russia-based Armenian businessmen attended a fund-raising dinner at the Ararat Part Hyatt hotel in Moscow, Russia. The function was held as part of the National Telethon-2009.

The RA presidential press office told NEWS.am that attending the function were also members of the Board of Trustees, President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Bako Sahakyan and Speaker of the RA Parliament Hovik Abrahanyan.

The raised funds will be directed to development programs in the town of Shushi. Addressing the attendees, President Serzh Sargsyan said:

“No war in our regions has ever caused damage to our fortress [Shushi]. Suffice it to say that, over the last 200 years, Shushi has passed from hand to hand at least fifteen times, which makes it much dearer to us,” President Sargsyan said.

He called for active participation in fund-raising, which “has for centuries been characteristic of our philanthropists and Maecenases. Whatever we sacrifice, we cannot give more than the blood sacrificed by the freedom fighters who returned Shushi to us. May we be worthy of their sacred deeds,” Serzh Sargsyan said.

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund will name the donators and report on their donations on the day of Telethon, November 26.