Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan travelled to Artsakh today to participate in celebrations marking the May 9 triple holiday - the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War (WWII), the liberation of Shushi (1992) and the formation of the Artsakh Defense Army that same year.

In the morning, top government officials from Armenia and Artsakh walked from Stepanakert’s Renaissance Square to the town’s War Memorial and paid their respects to those who died in the Great Patriotic War and the liberation of Shushi.

Pashinyan then walked to a nearby cemetery where those killed during the Artsakh Liberation War are buried and laid flowers at the graves.

Armenian PM Pashinyan and Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan then laid flowers at a statute dedicated to Vazgen Sargsyan ( Armenia’s First Minister of Defense and later Prime Minister) and then at the Shushi Tank Memorial.

Pashinyan and Sahakyan, escorted by Artsakh Armenian Apostolic Church Primate Pargev Martisrosyan, then visited the newly built  Holy Mother of God Cathedral and lit candles in memory of those who have died to defend Armenia and her people.