Epress.am News from Armenia
Heated debates have been taking place in recent days in Ulyanovsk, a city on the Volga River in Russia. The local community plans to appeal to the Armenian authorities with a unique request: to restore the historic cemetery in the city center, for which the local authorities have not allocated funds, reports Russian news source Novye Izvestiya.
There are reasons why the request is directed at Armenia: days earlier, upon an initiative by Ulyanovsk mayor Sergey Morozov, a memorial known as the Hill of Honor, which commemorates the 240 Russian soldiers who were killed in the 19th century, was erected in Gyumri.
Ten million RUB (about $325,000 USD) was allocated from Ulyanovsk’s budget for the reconstruction of the Hill of Honor.
The Ulyanovsk cemetery employees are quite angry. “Restoring the cemetery, particularly in a brother state, is honest work, but only in the case when every thing’s in order here [in Ulyanovsk],” said Ulyanovsk State University student Sergey Petrov.
“Armenians would be horrified if they saw what state the Ulyanovsk cemetery’s in. It’s destroyed because the local authorities have turned a blind eye to it. There are more than 100,000 people buried here, including well-known individuals,” he said.
According to Petrov, buried in the cemetery are a number of those who perished in the Great Patriotic War. “There are no funds for the cemetery, isn’t it so that you can’t advertise well without that? In Armenia, Morozov managed to excel,” he added.
“In such a state, the only thing that remains is to ask for assistance from Armenia. We plan on sending an official letter. Perhaps Armenia’s authorities would like to help us,” said Petrov.