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Unknown Russian WWI soldier to be laid to rest with honors in France

The memorial ceremony will be held at the Russian War Cemetery of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand on Wednesday

Russian troops parading at camp de Mailly during WWI, France, 1916 wikimedia.org

Russian troops parading at camp de Mailly during WWI, France, 1916

© wikimedia.org

PARIS, March 22. /TASS/. An unknown member of the First World War-era Russian Expeditionary Force in France, whose remains were found earlier this year in France’s northeastern department of Marne, will be laid to rest with honors Wednesday.

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Russian Empire in World War I

The remains were discovered at a site of a First World War battle in the commune of Cormicy in January. The preserved fragments of his uniform indicated that it was a member of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France, later known as the Russian Legion.

The memorial ceremony will be held at the Russian War Cemetery of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand Wednesday and will be attended by Russia’s Ambassador in Frqance Alexander Orlov and French Secretary of State for Veterans and Remembrance Jean-Marc Todeschini.

The unknown member of the Russian Expeditionary Force will be buried with military honors. National anthems of Russia and France will be played during the ceremony.

The Russian Expeditionary Force in France was created in 1916 after France requested that Russian troops be sent to fight alongside their own army on the Western Front. It was disbanded after the 1917 February revolution in Russia, but hundreds of its members continued to fight in France as volunteers.

Russia and France lost some 3 million and 1.5 million soldiers respectively in the First World War.

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