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On October 12, in Mariinsky Palace of Saint Petersburg the RA NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov met with the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg Vyacheslav Makarov. The RA NA Permanent Representative to the CIS IPA Hayk Chilingaryan attended the meeting.

During the meeting the sides highlighted the Armenians’ role in the development of Saint Petersburg, noting that the since the foundation of the city the Armenians have been the inseparable part of the social-political, economic and cultural life. In his word, the RA NA Deputy Speaker particularly noted: “Still in 1710 in Saint Petersburg an Armenian community was formed, and from the second half of the 18^th century Saint Catherine Church functioning in Saint Petersburg is one of the important centres of preservation of Armenians and passing the national values.”

The RA NA Deputy Speaker underlined that during the Leningrad blockade thousands of Armenians heroically defended the city from fascism. “Nelson Stepanyan defended the sky of Leningrad in fighting against fascism, and Hovsep Orbeli defended Hermitage,” Mr Sharmazanov said.

Noting that through centuries numerous famous Armenians had been the symbols of Saint Petersburg expressed conviction that the fraternal relations should be further strengthened and the best traditions should be conveyed to the generations as granted. In that context Mr Sharmazanov has noted that next years the 130^th death anniversary of the Armenian well-known commander, reformative, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia, a hero of Russian-Turkish war Mikhail Loris-Melikov. The RA NA Deputy Speaker proposed to organize events of memory dedicated to the well-acclaimed Armenian.

In the course of the meeting sides highlighted the expansion of cooperation between Yerevan and Saint Petersburg and the implementation of the joint programmes.