Aleksey Ostrovskiy participated in the solemn ceremony of renovated memorial opening in Smolensk

Today, on the 24 – th of September the regional center got a place where we can lay flowers in memory of all natives of Smolensk that were killed in the line of their duty. At the former Memorial to soldiers-internationalists immortalized now the names of those who died performing their duties on the territory of our country.

The idea of the need for such a place in Smolensk, where we can pay tribute to all natives of Smolensk killed in the line of their duty in Russia and abroad, came from one of the mothers of the deceased employee of the regional Federal Security Service of Russia and in June last year she expressed it in a conversation with the head of the Office. The idea was supported by veteran organizations. Soon it was decided to establish a memorial in the park of memory of soldiers-internationalists located on the Marshal Zhukov street near by Nicholas Gate.

Due to the fact that the name of the monument was not consistent with its new content any more, in April 2012 approved a new name - "In memory of natives of Smolensk, who died in the line of duty." Creator memorial became Smolensks culptor Alexander Rusetskaya.

Following the submission of the project began scrupulous work on refining of dead list for memorial. The final list included 114 names of natives of Smolensk, killed in the line of their duty in the 1978-2008. In May, began restoration work, which affected the cube with the names of natives of Smolensk killed in Afghanistan.

Governor Aleksey Ostrovskiy appealed to natives of Smolensk that came to honor the memory of dead: «Today we participate in a very significant and important event. We pay tribute and great respect to those of our countrymen who by fate, by oath, by the call of duty bowed their heads, and had already gone to another world. The event for which  we all gathered here, is for me very significant, because I know many living boys, men who got through terrible wars in Chechnya, Afghanistan, were wounded, were shell-shocked, but in spite of this happy every day with us. At such an event I do not want to waste a word, I want to just keep quiet and remember. Very symbolic is the weather - drizzly rain, which can be regarded as the mother, baby tears - another signal of God's will and God. Let us live so that we are not ashamed of the way we live, because they are no with us anymore. Remember them!».