The International Training "Memory Watch" - 2013

About 700 searchers gathered in Dukhovschinsky district of the Smolensk region, where International Training "Memory Watch" - 2013 was taking place for 12 days. Last Saturday the closing ceremony and general gathering of units was held in Kulagino.

The closing ceremony of the Dukhovschinsky Phase of the XV International "Memory Watch" was attended by Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy.

In Kulagino the Head of the region met the search units and learnt about the work of the camp, and also took part in the burial ceremony of the dead Red Army soldiers found during the search operations.

Summing up the results of this phase of the "Memory Watch", Nina Kulikovskikh spoke about the work of the search units, which this year started in early April. Since then 7 burial ceremonies have been held in the Smolensk region.

According to the director of the "Dolg" center, the main task of the training watch, which is held once a year, is not only to find the soldiers, but also to prepare new recruits, new commanders and new units. "For example, there is a unit from Mordovia, the National Republican unit, consisting of 38 people. Its commander is very experienced, but for 32 people it is the first time at the "Memory Watch". They are being taught by their commander and by our experts. It is both practice and theory, and also exchange of experience in the informal setting.

This watch involves a lot of work on patriotic education, a great program where children reveal their creativity- we've got gymnasts, musicians, athletes, artists and poets. It certainly should be shared with the entire watch. So every day we hold different events and ceremonies", - said Nina Kulikovskikh.

"Memory Watch" - 2013 will end on August, 20, but it is already known, according to the preliminary data, that the searchers have found the remains of more than 260 soldiers.

Thanks to the soldiers' plates it was found out that the dead defenders of the Fatherland found in the Elninsky district were born in the Altai region. Seventy years later, they will find peace in their home land - the plates and the remains of the soldiers of the Red Army will be given to the families by the Altai search unit, who also participated in the "Memory Watch".