As part of his official visit to Moscow, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the ceremony of unveiling the bust of Marshal Hovhannes Babajanyan, a Soviet-Armenian military leader and the chief commander of the USSR armored troops in the World War II period.

In his public speech addressing the guests and organizers, the premier said he felt extremely proud to be present at the historic event to laud the legendary commander and the great son of the Armenian nation.

“Throughout the [Great Patriotic] War, Hovhannes Babajanyan and his troops liberated cities and towns,” he said.

“Marshal Hamazasp Babajanyan’s name is written in the heroic chapters of the Armenian nation’s history – along with the names of all those people who fought in Bash Aparan and Sardarapat, heroic battles whose 100th anniversary Armenia celebrated about a month ago.

The ceremony of donating the bust symbolizes the Armenian and Russian peoples’ respect for war heroes, and their willingness to hand down the memory about them from generation to generation, the prime minister added.

The commander’s daughter, Larisa Babajanyan, also delivered a speech, thanking the leadership of Armenia and the Armenian Embassy to Russia for the remarkable initiative .

Pashinyan is in Moscow to attend the opening of the 21st World Football Cup in the city’s Luzhniki stadium.

On Wednesday, the prime minister met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier today, he visited an Armenian church and the Grigor Narekatsi Armenian School.