LONDON, March 25. /TASS/. The London-based Soviet War Memorial Trust has cancelled its traditional May event in memory of those killed during World War II, it told TASS on Friday.
"It is with regret that the Trustees of the Soviet War Memorial Trust (SWMT) inform you that the SWMT will not be organising an event at the Soviet War Memorial in May 2022. The Soviet War Memorial is dedicated to all of the 27 million Soviet civilians and military personnel who died for Allied Victory in World War II," it said.
The Russian embassy confirmed to TASS that it had received the notification from SWMT but refrained from comments on the changes to the program of the celebration of the 77th VE anniversary. Russia’s Federal Agency for the Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent states, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation was unavailable for immediate comment.
The Soviet War Memorial Trust along with the Russian embassy to the UK and the Federal Agency for the Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent states, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation have been annually organizing commemorative ceremonies at the Soviet War Memorial in London’s Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, which surrounds the Imperial War Museum.
The memorial features a semi-abstract bronze figure holding aloft a bell which will forever remain silent in memory of those who died. Russian sculptor Sergei Shcherbakov’s memorial was unveiled in 1999.