President Serzh Sargsyan participated at the ceremony of inauguration of the National Defense and Research University of the RA Ministry of Defense

The President of Armenia, Commander-in-Chief Serzh Sargsyan today participated at the ceremony of inauguration of the National Defense and Research University of the RA Ministry of Defense in Yerevan, which was also attended by the Ministers of Defense of Armenia and Artsakh, the highest leadership of the Armenian Armed Forces, heads of various institutions, as well as by the Ambassadors accredited in Armenia, high-level foreign guests, representatives from the area of science and education.

The President toured the newly constructed premise of the University, familiarized with the programs of the institution, conditions created for the proper functioning of the University, including the workrooms furnished for research and educational activities. Later, the President participated at the official meeting dedicated to the opening of the University.

After the report of the Head of the Drastamat Kanayan National Institute for Strategic Studies of the RA Ministry of Defense, Major General, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Hayk Kotanjian, the participants of the meeting were greeted by Dr. James Keagle, Professor of the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, US National Defense University; Lt. Gen. Tad Oelstrom, Professor, Director of the National Security Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, and Professor Alexander Nikitin, Doctor of Political Science, Director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Security, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).

At the conference hall of the University there took place the official award ceremony. By the Presidential Decree James Keagle, Tad Oelstrom, Alexander Nikitin and Col. Gen. Nikolay Bordyuzha – Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Chairman of the CSTO Academic-Expert Council were awarded the Medal of Gratitude for their contribution to the establishment of the National Defense Research University.