On September 21, the Tavrid Palace of Saint Petersburg hosted a reception dedicated to the25th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Armenia and held on behalf of the Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia.

Among the participants of the reception were Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov, who is on a working visit to Saint Petersburg, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the government of Saint Petersburg and the authorities of the Leningrad and Vologda provinces, members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Saint Petersburg, scholars and cultural figures, representatives of the Armenian community of the North-Western region of the Russian Federation and clergymen.

In his speech addressed to the participants of the event, RA Consul General in Saint Petersburg Hrayr Karapetyan talked about the past 25 years of independence of the Republic of Armenia and the achievements that had been made. The Consul emphasized that, alongside systemic reforms in the legal, social, economic and other spheres, Armenia and the Armenian people are compelled to confront external dangers and face security threats. Touching upon the 25^th anniversary of Independence of Artsakh celebrated with a grand ceremony held recently, Karapetyan stated that, by expressing its free will in accordance with all the norms of international law, the Armenians of Artsakh exercised its inviolable right to live peacefully in their homeland.

In the context of the events that took place in April, the Consul General stated that Azerbaijan’s manifestations of brutal force are doomed to failure and that Azerbaijan will always receive the strong counterattack it deserves.

Among other speakers were Deputy Speaker of the RA National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov, Deputy Governor of the Government of Saint Petersburg Olga Kazanskaya, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Vladimir Zapevalov, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Government of Leningrad Province Andrey Minin, representative of the RA National Assembly to the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Hayk Chilingaryan and representative of the Vologda Province in Saint Petersburg Anna Bastrakova.

On the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Armenia, Governor of Saint Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, Governor of Leningrad Province Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of Vologda Province Oleg Kuvshinnikov and Acting Governor of Kaliningrad Yevgeny Zinichev conveyed their congratulatory messages and kind wishes to the RA Consul General and to all Armenians.