Message of the Petrograd Telegraph Agency dated May 13, 1915 says: “Over the past months, Armenians are being slaughtered by Kurds and Turks, with the obvious connivance of the Ottoman government. Armenians were massacred in Erzrum, Dergan, Egin, Bitlis, Mush, Sasun, Zeytun and throughout Cilicia. Residents of hundreds of villages near Van were killed. In Constantinople, Armenian intellectuals are arrested. Seeing these terrible cries, allied governments of Russia, France and Britain say that they shoulder the responsibility on the Turkish rulers and their representatives.”

The telegram sent by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov to ambassadors in Paris and London says: “The Ministry received new reports on anarchy in Asian Turkey and massacres of Armenians by Turks and Kurds. Let me propose the French and British government to issue a joint appeal, which would lay the responsibility of Armenians on the members of the Turkish Cabinet and all those civil and military officials involved. The appeal could remind of the repressive measures taken by Europe in 1860 after the massacre in Syria. In case of consent from British and French governments, the text of the appeal should be drawn.”

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Mikhail Girs, like American ambassador Henry Morgenthau, also sent dispatches to report about the atrocities. On 1916, funds were raised in Russia to assist Armenians, who survived the Genocide and crossed the Russian border. According to the official date 373,5 thousand refugees had found shelter in the Caucasus by the end of 1916. Numerous committees were formed to aid Armenians.