The box (sizes similar to film box) is hidden between the statue of
Marshal Bagramyan and the building of AUA.
Hovhannes Bagramyan was born in 1897 in historical Artsakh
(present-day Nagorno-Karabakh Republic). He was a Soviet Armenian
military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World
War II, Bagramyan was the first non-Slavic military officer to
become a commander of a Front. He was among several Armenians in
the Soviet Army who held the highest proportion of high ranking
officers in the Soviet military during the war. For his
contributions during the war, he was widely regarded as a national
hero in the Soviet Union, and continues to hold such esteemed
status among Armenians.
There is an interesting anecdote about Baghramyan, which shows
that even tyrants like Stalin may have sense of humor. In October
1944, the United Front fought their way to the coast of the Baltic
Sea and cut off more than 30 divisions of German Army Group North
from East Prussia. On the very day Bagramyan in Baltic Sea filled a
flask with seawater and ordered his batman to fly to Moscow and to
pass the bottle to Stalin. Before arrival of the batman Nazis
counterattacked and for a short while took control over the shore
of the Baltic sea. At the time of the arrival of the batman to
Moscow Stalin was informed about recent developments, but batman
didn’t know about counterattack of the Nazis. When batman
delivered the flask to Stalin with the words “General
Baghramyan ordered me to deliver to you a flask with seawater from
Baltic see” Stalin responded – “Fly back, pass
the flask back to Baghramyan and say him that Stalin ordered to
pour out the water exactly at the same place where it is
taken”.
Behind the statue is the building of the the American University
of Armenia.