MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has assigned great importance to opening the Russian-French Fund of Historical Initiatives.
Among other things, the fund is tasked with preserving the memory of Russian soldiers who fought in France in World War I. The Russian-French Fund is supported by the Russian Military Historical Society.
"In the current circumstances, it is very important to put forward initiatives aimed at preserving history. Here they showed a small monument, which was opened in France, to Russian soldiers. It is a small monument, it stands right by the road, but at the time when monuments in Europe are being destroyed, creating even a small monument is a great thing," Peskov told TASS at the Russian-French Fund opening ceremony. "That's why such an initiative, of course, requires a lot of dedicetion, and it deserves the highest praise," he added.
Apart from projects on the First World War, the Russian-French Fund of Historical Initiatives plans to bring together in 2019 a group of experts from the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian and French Ministries of Culture to explore the Valutina Mountain near Smolensk, where battles were fought in August 1812, the fund's director Pierre Malinowski said at the opening ceremony.