Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Yerevan to attend the Armenian Genocide centennial events.

Putin’s agenda includes meetings with his Armenian and Russian counterparts.

Russia’s leader is expected to visit the memorial to Genocide victims and deliver a speech at a commemoration ceremony, along with high-ranking guests from 20 states.

“April 24, 1915 is a sad date connected with one of the most appalling and dramatic events in the history of humankind: the genocide of the Armenian people,” Putin said Wednesday, April 23 in a written message to participants of an event in Moscow dedicated to the Genocide centennial.

“One century on, we bow our heads in memory of all victims of this tragedy which our country has always perceived as its own pain and calamity,” he said.

“The position of Russia has been and remains objective and consistent: there can be no justifications for an ethnically motivated mass extermination. The international community is obliged to do everything to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated anywhere.”

“New generations of Armenians and other peoples of the region must live in peace and accord without knowing the horrors that result from provocation of religious enmity, aggressive nationalism and xenophobia,” added the message posted on the Kremlin’s website.