BEIRUT, June 15 A monument to the Russian writer and poet Alexander Pushkin was unveiled on Saturday in Lebanon, the correspondent reports.
The monument was erected in the Russian-Lebanese Friendship Park in the city of Ainab, southeast of the Lebanese capital Beirut, in the year of the 225th anniversary of Pushkin’s birth. It was inaugurated by the Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov. 
The monument to Pushkin was built on the initiative of the RUDN University Alumni Association. The opening ceremony was also attended by Russian diplomats, the Russian House in Lebanon, Russians living in the country, representatives of the Lebanese public and the mayor of Ainab Ghazi Shaar.
The event took place as part of Russian Language Day and the 80th anniversary of Russian-Lebanese diplomatic relations.
«In the native language of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky and Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, internationally recognized achievements of Russian culture and science were created. It is difficult to overestimate the role of the Russian language as a means of interethnic and international communication,» Rudakov noted.< br />