All news

Memorial to Soviet soldiers who died in Damansky conflict to open

The opening of the memorial is planned for July 2012
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, January 16 (Itar-Tass) —— A memorial complex in memory of the Soviet soldiers who died in the armed Soviet-Chinese conflict on Damansky Island in March 1969 will open in the Far East next summer, the head of the press service of the Eastern Military District, Alexander Gordeyev, told Itar-Tass on Monday.

“The preparation is underway in the district to rebury the remains of the soldiers of the 199th Verkhne-Udinsk motorized infantry regiment, who heroically died in March 1969 on Damansky Island,” he said.

The initiative to transfer the remains of ten heroes from the common grave in the settlement of Filino to the city cemetery in Dalnerechensk, the Primorye Territory, has come from veteran organizations of the cities of Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk, Magadan and Dalnerechensk.

The commander of the Eastern Military District's troops, Admiral Konstantin Sidenko, has supported the initiative and will personally control the work, the spokesman said.

The soldiers' relatives have given their consent for the reburial. The work is coordinated with the municipalities. A project to build the memorial complex is worked out. It will be a single architectural complex with the monument to 30 border guards who also died in the Damansky conflict.

The opening of the memorial is planned for July 2012, Gordeyev said.

Funds are raised at present for the reburial and the monument creation. The idea is supported by the heads of the administrations of the Amur and Magadan regions and executives of enterprises and organizations in the Far East, who have allocated money. Servicemen of the military district and members of their families actively participate in the campaign, voluntarily donating money to the special account opened by the city veteran organization "Damansty" in Sberbank.