ROSTOV–Ukraine (Armenpress)–Armenian intellectuals and community leaders Wednesday condemned the desecration of Holy Cross Armenian Church in Rostov–Ukraine and an attempt to burn down the Russian-Armenian friendship situated inside the church.
Unknown assailants Monday reportedly desecrated the temple and tried to burn it. Failing to enter the church they broke and burnt the windows and sprayed the slogans "white justice has come" and "Russia is for Russia’s" on the church walls.
A meeting was held Tuesday at the Armenian Consulate General in the Southern Russian–during which Consul General Ararat Gomtsian condemned the act of vandalism and read a message directed to the town and provincial authorities–as well as to law-enforcement bodies. The message deman’s that the persons responsible for this be found and punished.
The Russian-Armenian Yerkramas newspaper reported that the director of the Rostov regional monumen’s protection agency Alexander Kozhin said "the desecration of historic monumen’s is terrible." He added that the Holy Cross Church was the only architectural monument in Rostov that date back to the 18th century.
