There will be an obelisk to Smolensk soldiers in the center of Smolensk

Alexey Ostrovskiy met veterans of the Great Patriotic War, representatives of public veteran organizations. The draft of the monument dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Smolensk from the German fascist invaders was discussed at the meeting.

The sketches were presented to the audience by Vladimir Surovtsev the People's Artist of Russia who has created two dozens of military monuments in different countries.

Before the presentation, the head of the region emphasized that he arranged this meeting to choose the monument all together: "I have chosen the place and I hope you will support me in this. But I refused to choose the monument to be set up by myself saying that this should be a decision of the Smolensk people. It is very difficult to interview all the people of the region, so we decided that you, the veterans can make this decision on behalf of the people of Smolensk".

The veterans unanimously supported the choice of place for the monument proposed by the Governor - in Victory Square in front of the "Oktyabr" cinema.

Sculptor Vladimir Surovtsev presented eight sketches, one of which selected by the veterans will later be finalized.

Among the presented projects there is a traditional military obelisk, figures of soldiers – a young soldier with an anti-tank gun, a soldier in the rags bearing all the hardships of the war, a soldier-winner, an attacking soldier symbolizing the fighting spirit and overcoming the fear.

After the Governor had left the veterans continued the discussion and decided that a granite obelisk symbolizing the historic mission of the Smolensk region - to be a shield of Russia should be set up in Victory Square.

This obelisk represents the four major historical landmarks - the defense of Smolensk of 1609-1611, the Patriotic War of 1812, World War I and the Great Patriotic war.

It was a general opinion that the next generation should know the history of the Smolensk region and our country.