SAN FRANCISCO /California/, November 6. /TASS/. Russian envoy to the US Anatoly Antonov laid flowers on Saturday at several monuments associated with Russia in San Francisco, California.
Bouquets of red roses were placed at three of the memorials, with inscriptions in Russian and English.
Antonov laid flowers at a commemorative plaque on the Embarcadero waterfront as a tribute to the Russian sailors who died fighting a major fire in San Francisco on October 23, 1863. These sailors were part of the crews of the cruisers of the Pacific Squadron of the Russian Imperial Navy under Rear Admiral Andrey Popov. The inscription on the monument points to the "selfless and courageous actions of the Russian Imperial Navy sailors while saving the lives of many city residents in suppressing the great fire in San Francisco on October 23, 1863". In addition, the envoy arrived at a plaque on San Francisco's Russian Hill. It reads, "Russian Hill was named for the graves of several sailors of the 'Russian-American Company,' who died here in the early 1840s." Finally, Antonov brought flowers to a memorial bench in Lincoln Park made of black marble. It is dedicated to those who died fighting against Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan during World War II.
Anatoly Antonov made a working trip to California this week. He visited Alexander Vinnik, a Russian citizen under pre-trial detention near San Francisco, met with his compatriots, for whom a consular reception was organized, and participated in a memorial ceremony for the Russian sailors buried in the 19th and early 20th centuries at the cemetery on the Mare Island Peninsula in Vallejo.