Azatutyun.am. The supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin II, received on Wednesday a Russian state medal awarded by President Vladimir Putin in November.
Putin awarded Garegin with the Order of Honor for his “great contribution to the development of cultural-humanitarian links between Russia and Armenia.”
The Russian ambassador to Armenia, Sergei Kopyrkin, presented him with the medal during a ceremony held at the church headquarters in Echmiadzin.
Speaking at the ceremony, Garegin praised the Russian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches for their role in close relations between the two nations. They “will make every effort for the further strengthening and perpetuation of this centuries-old friendship,” he said, according to his office.
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Garegin also mentioned Azerbaijan’s continuing blockade of the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. He expressed hope that Russian peacekeepers stationed in Karabakh will succeed in unblocking it.
