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Russia-Ukraine war toll: both sides list Armenian names
by Emil Sanamyan
Published: Saturday September 20, 2014
Surb Khach church in Makeevka, Donetsk oblast, Ukraine. Courtesy image
WASHINGTON - A cease-fire agreement signed on September 5 appears to
be generally holding in eastern Ukraine, with reports of fighting in
the last two weeks limited to occasional artillery exchanges and light
arms skirmishes. The lull came days after Russian ground forces
stepped up their involvement in the war and effectively routed
Ukrainian volunteer units in the areas south of Donents and Lugansk.
Pro-Russian forces now control a substantial area immediately adjacent
to the Russian border, including the two major cities.
The United Nations estimates that more than three thousand people have
been killed since the fighting first broke out in April with hundreds
of thousands displaced. The fatalities include more than a thousand
Ukrainian forces, more than a thousand of pro-Russian/Russian forces,
as well as the nearly 300 passengers and crew of the shot down
Malaysian airliner and other civilians. The conflict - a hybrid of a
Russian military intervention and a Ukrainian Civil War - has pitted
former neighbors, friends and even family members against each other.
Not surprisingly, with the large Armenian communities in both Russia
and Ukraine, Armenians can also be found on both sides of the
conflict. In Ukraine, about 9,000 Armenians lived in Crimea, at the
time of its annexation by Russia last March, and more than 20,000 were
resident in Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts, the areas devastated in the
months of fighting.
In a strange twist of fate, the first fatalities during the
anti-government protests in Kiev and subsequent violence in Donetsk
were both ethnic Armenians. 20-year-old Sergey Nigoyan was one of two
people shot dead in clashes with police on January 22. Some 100 more
were killed in subsequent clashes in February, including 54-year-old
Georgi Arutyunyan. As first fighting began in the eastern Ukrainian
town of Slavyansk on April 13, it claimed the life of 28-year-old
Ruben Avanesyan, described as a rebel activist, although others
claimed Avanesyan was not politically active.
As the fighting escalated, Armenians joined both the rebel and
pro-government forces fighting in eastern Ukraine. Some Armenians
living in Russia, like 24-year-old Spitak native Artur Gasparyanwho
survived the early fighting in May and June, volunteered to fight on
the rebel side. On the opposite side from Gasparyan, was the Gyumri
native Armen Nikoghosyan, a surgeon turned frontline medic credited
with saving dozens and perhaps hundreds of lives.
Although, the Russian government continues to deny that it is directly
involved in the Ukrainian war, more than 100 Russian military
servicemen were killed in Ukraine so far, including several who are of
Armenian descent. 20-year-old Armen Davoyan, born in Nizhny Novgorod
and serving with the Russian Interior Ministry's special forces unit,
was reported killed on July 14 near the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Robert Arutyunyan from the Black Sea town of Tuapse was reported
killed on August 13, when his unit - the Chechnya-based 17th
Motor-Rifle Brigade of the Russian army - came under missile fire near
Snezhnoe in Donetsk oblast. And on August 19, 25-yearl old Artur
Danielyan, a junior sergeant with the 247th Airborne Regiment based in
Stavropol, was also reported killed in Ukraine.
On the other side, a volunteer with the Aidar battalion Ohanes
Petrosyan was killed in fighting near Severodonetsk, Lugansk oblast on
August 27. Also at the end of August, another Ukrainian volunteer
battalion - Donbass - reported among its many presumed dead the
29-year-old Artur Cholakyan from Dzerzhinsk in Donetsk oblast. Vano
Arakelyan, 23 and Oleg Avtandilov, 42 are listed among Ukrainians
currently imprisoned by pro-Russian forces in Donetsk.
Most prominently, 50-year-old Arsen Avakov, born in Baku and with
roots in Karabakh, has been a key figure in Ukraine's military effort
since become the country's Interior Minister in February. An
influential business and political figure in Ukraine's second largest
city Kharkov, for over a decade, Avakov had also been active in the
community, including with the local office of the Armenian General
Benevolent Union (AGBU).
And in Moscow, one of the key ideologues for rebuilding a new Russian
empire in former Soviet borders is Sergei Kurginyan, 64, an advisor to
several Russian leaders and author of the 2012 4-volume work "Essence
of Time: Philosophical justification of messianic claims of Russia in
the 21st century." Last July, Kurginyan arrived in Donetsk and
publicly challenged popular rebel commander Igor Strelkov (Girkin)
after his criticism of Vladimir Putin's lackluster support for his
forces. Weeks later, Strelkov resigned and Russia escalated its
support for the rebels.
At least eight ethnic Armenians - citizens of Ukraine and Russia -
have died in the crisis that began last February and with a cease-fire
agreement reached on September 5, leaving more than 3100 dead and
hundreds of thousands displaced.
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2014-09-20-russia-ukraine-war-toll-both-sides-list-armenian-names
by Emil Sanamyan
Published: Saturday September 20, 2014
Surb Khach church in Makeevka, Donetsk oblast, Ukraine. Courtesy image
WASHINGTON - A cease-fire agreement signed on September 5 appears to
be generally holding in eastern Ukraine, with reports of fighting in
the last two weeks limited to occasional artillery exchanges and light
arms skirmishes. The lull came days after Russian ground forces
stepped up their involvement in the war and effectively routed
Ukrainian volunteer units in the areas south of Donents and Lugansk.
Pro-Russian forces now control a substantial area immediately adjacent
to the Russian border, including the two major cities.
The United Nations estimates that more than three thousand people have
been killed since the fighting first broke out in April with hundreds
of thousands displaced. The fatalities include more than a thousand
Ukrainian forces, more than a thousand of pro-Russian/Russian forces,
as well as the nearly 300 passengers and crew of the shot down
Malaysian airliner and other civilians. The conflict - a hybrid of a
Russian military intervention and a Ukrainian Civil War - has pitted
former neighbors, friends and even family members against each other.
Not surprisingly, with the large Armenian communities in both Russia
and Ukraine, Armenians can also be found on both sides of the
conflict. In Ukraine, about 9,000 Armenians lived in Crimea, at the
time of its annexation by Russia last March, and more than 20,000 were
resident in Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts, the areas devastated in the
months of fighting.
In a strange twist of fate, the first fatalities during the
anti-government protests in Kiev and subsequent violence in Donetsk
were both ethnic Armenians. 20-year-old Sergey Nigoyan was one of two
people shot dead in clashes with police on January 22. Some 100 more
were killed in subsequent clashes in February, including 54-year-old
Georgi Arutyunyan. As first fighting began in the eastern Ukrainian
town of Slavyansk on April 13, it claimed the life of 28-year-old
Ruben Avanesyan, described as a rebel activist, although others
claimed Avanesyan was not politically active.
As the fighting escalated, Armenians joined both the rebel and
pro-government forces fighting in eastern Ukraine. Some Armenians
living in Russia, like 24-year-old Spitak native Artur Gasparyanwho
survived the early fighting in May and June, volunteered to fight on
the rebel side. On the opposite side from Gasparyan, was the Gyumri
native Armen Nikoghosyan, a surgeon turned frontline medic credited
with saving dozens and perhaps hundreds of lives.
Although, the Russian government continues to deny that it is directly
involved in the Ukrainian war, more than 100 Russian military
servicemen were killed in Ukraine so far, including several who are of
Armenian descent. 20-year-old Armen Davoyan, born in Nizhny Novgorod
and serving with the Russian Interior Ministry's special forces unit,
was reported killed on July 14 near the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Robert Arutyunyan from the Black Sea town of Tuapse was reported
killed on August 13, when his unit - the Chechnya-based 17th
Motor-Rifle Brigade of the Russian army - came under missile fire near
Snezhnoe in Donetsk oblast. And on August 19, 25-yearl old Artur
Danielyan, a junior sergeant with the 247th Airborne Regiment based in
Stavropol, was also reported killed in Ukraine.
On the other side, a volunteer with the Aidar battalion Ohanes
Petrosyan was killed in fighting near Severodonetsk, Lugansk oblast on
August 27. Also at the end of August, another Ukrainian volunteer
battalion - Donbass - reported among its many presumed dead the
29-year-old Artur Cholakyan from Dzerzhinsk in Donetsk oblast. Vano
Arakelyan, 23 and Oleg Avtandilov, 42 are listed among Ukrainians
currently imprisoned by pro-Russian forces in Donetsk.
Most prominently, 50-year-old Arsen Avakov, born in Baku and with
roots in Karabakh, has been a key figure in Ukraine's military effort
since become the country's Interior Minister in February. An
influential business and political figure in Ukraine's second largest
city Kharkov, for over a decade, Avakov had also been active in the
community, including with the local office of the Armenian General
Benevolent Union (AGBU).
And in Moscow, one of the key ideologues for rebuilding a new Russian
empire in former Soviet borders is Sergei Kurginyan, 64, an advisor to
several Russian leaders and author of the 2012 4-volume work "Essence
of Time: Philosophical justification of messianic claims of Russia in
the 21st century." Last July, Kurginyan arrived in Donetsk and
publicly challenged popular rebel commander Igor Strelkov (Girkin)
after his criticism of Vladimir Putin's lackluster support for his
forces. Weeks later, Strelkov resigned and Russia escalated its
support for the rebels.
At least eight ethnic Armenians - citizens of Ukraine and Russia -
have died in the crisis that began last February and with a cease-fire
agreement reached on September 5, leaving more than 3100 dead and
hundreds of thousands displaced.
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2014-09-20-russia-ukraine-war-toll-both-sides-list-armenian-names