ULAANBAATAR, April 23. /TASS/. A Mongolian woman is trying to follow in her grandmother's footsteps by gifting a prize mare to Russian President Vladimir this Victory Day, hoping to present him with symbolic stirrups at this year's commemorative parade.
"Just like hundreds of Mongolians during the Great Patriotic War, my granny gave her horses to help the USSR. To continue this family tradition, I would like to give the finest Mongolian breed of horse to the Russian president as a gift for the 80th anniversary of our common victory in the war against fascism," Choijinkhuugiin Enkhjargal told TASS. Under Mongolian tradition, the mare called Yalalt (Victory) must stay in Mongolia, but Enkhjargal hopes to hand over its stirrups to Putin.
She also holds a unique collection of documents dating back to the Great Patriotic War era, including 29 original TASS posters.
The Mongolian lady is proud that the Mongolian People’s Republic (MPR) became the first ally of the Soviet Union which lost almost half of its horse population over the first year of the Great Patriotic War alone. According to her, the MPR accounted for almost one-third of free foreign aid sent to the Soviet Union during that war.
On June 22, 1941, when the Great Patriotic War broke out, an extraordinary joint meeting of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, and the republic’s parliament and government resolved to provide assistance to the USSR. Apart from horses, the MPR supplied its neighbor with food and warm clothes during the four years of the war. Also, tank columns and an air squadron were created with financial assistance from Mongolian citizens.