All news

Russia's Defense Ministry publishes unique documents ahead of Unknown Soldier Day

The Day of the Unknown Soldier has been marked in Russia since 2014

MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry has posted on its official website documents on the 1941 Battle of Moscow related to the Day of the Unknown Soldier marked on Monday.

"A special section on the ministry’s website presents a selection of unique documents from the Russian Defense Ministry’s Central Archive, which makes it possible to reveal the chronology of events of the 1941 sanguinary battles on the city’s fringes and understand why Russia marks the Day of the Unknown Soldier on December 3," the ministry said.

The documents include the registration card of the military burial site where the remains interred at the Kremlin wall in Moscow had been taken on December 3, 1966. In 1967, a war memorial and the Eternal Flame appeared there.

"The mass grave of unknown soldiers who, just like millions of Red Army soldiers, accomplished their feat, is located at the 40th kilometer of Leningrad Highway where heavy fighting raged to defend Moscow in 1941. It was here that Moscow’s defenders said, "There is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!"

The Day of the Unknown Soldier has been marked in Russia since 2014.