Alexey Ostrovskiy participated in the teleconference of the Hero-Cities

The preparations for celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory in the Russian regions was the main topic of the Hero-Cities teleconference, organized by the Federation Council. The heads of the regions and Hero-Cities, members of the Upper House of the Parliament, representatives of veterans, search, and youth organizations took part in the video conference. The Smolensk region, the home of the Soviet Guard, was represented by Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy.

Opening the video conference, the vice-speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Galina Karelova pointed out that active preparation for celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Victory is being carried out in all the regions.

The first speakers in the Moscow studio in the Upper House of the Parliament were a member of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, Chairman of the Moscow City Council of veterans of war, labor, armed forces and law enforcement agencies, twice Hero of Socialist Labor Vladimir Dolgov and Chairman of the interstate union of the Hero-Cities, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Major-General Viktor Gorbatenko. After the speech of the representative of the Moscow Government, the Russian capital was connected in the conference with St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Tula, Murmansk, Smolensk, Novorossiysk, the Republic of Crimea and Volgograd.

In his speech, Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy spoke about the preparations for the most important holiday for the country carried out in the Smolensk region.

"It is symbolic that on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Victory Day Smolensk region has become the center of the inter-regional cooperation to establish historical, cultural and patriotic connections. In early April, Smolensk region was visited by a delegation from Primorye, headed by the Primorye Territory Governor Vladimir Vladimirovich Miklushevsky. At the memorial ceremony, with paying military honors and observing Orthodox rites, they were handed over the remains of the three Homeland defenders from Primorye, whose names were identified as a result of the search expeditions of the "Memory Watch". On April, 9, in the Kholm-Zhirkovsky district, the delegation headed by the Governor of the Tomsk region Sergey Anatolyevich Zhvachkin took part in the opening ceremony of the renewed memorial to the Siberian soldiers of the 166th Infantry Division formed in Tomsk", - the Head of the region said during the teleconference.

Alexey Ostrovskiy paid particular attention to the issues of social protection of the veterans. According to Alexey Vladimirovich, 20,728 war veterans currently reside in Smolensk region and receive all the social support determined by the present legislation. Support is provided to people with disabilities and war veterans of the war 1941-1945, home front workers, former underage prisoners of Nazi concentration camps and ghettos.

The work to commemorate the fallen defenders of the Homeland is being actively carried out: today, in all the districts the monuments, obelisks, memorials and military burial places are being renovated and repaired, military equipment of the Great Patriotic War period is being painted. On the territory of Smolensk region there are more than 1,350 of such sites. On the initiative of the regional Administration, the tradition of the industrial enterprises and organizations of all forms of ownership, educational institutions patronizing the memorials and graves of Soviet soldiers has been revived.