YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. The monument honoring the legendary Ararat-73 football club in Yerevan has been vandalized. 4 statues have been stolen.

The statues were erected in 2016 to honor the squad of the year 1973 of the FC Ararat Yerevan, the year the team won the USSR Top League and the USSR Cup.

“This is vandalism”, player of Ararat 73 Sergey Poghosyan, now retired, told ARMENPRESS.

Poghosyan was outraged to learn about the incident. He emphasized what a great meaning the statues have for the entire team, especially for those who are still alive.

“It has been years since I am asking relevant structures to install video surveillance here, however they haven’t responded till now”, an angered Poghosyan said near the remaining statues.

“Today, something happened which I find to be vandalism”, Poghosyan said. “I came here the moment I found out. These statues mean a lot to us, this was a slap to the nation, this theft was a great slap to the face”, he said.

The statues of Ararat-73 manager Nikita Simonyan and players Robert Tsaghikyan, Onik Abrahamyan and Harutyun Keheyan were stolen. The remaining statues are in place.

Police said they have launched proceedings. 

Reporting by Varvara Hayrapetyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan