Those "Ivans" were commanded by Marshal Bagermian: Zakharova on Governor Chirac's statement during the briefing, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, harshly commented on the scandalous statement of the governor of the Chirac region. According to her, this figure first of all humiliated the Armenian people. A representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry called "such neo-Nazi renewals of the Nazis' well-known derogatory rhetoric towards the Slavic population" unacceptable - and not only for government officials. Zakharova recalled that among those Soviet soldiers whom the Nazis called "Ivans" or "Red Ivans", there were about half a million ethnic Armenians. She also listed famous Armenians who themselves called themselves Ivans: Bagramian, Ivzovsky, Tabusian, Iskov and others. Shirak Governor David Arushanian previously published an advertisement related to the celebration of Gyumri Day on October 17, in an organization in which the powerful Armenia party participated. The governor criticized the political event and wrote: "Gyumri is not your Nizhny Tabor, and the residents of Gyumri are not your Ivans."