Not everything is memorable – Kommersant Yekaterinburg

A conflict erupted in the Sverdlovsk region over a monument to combatants in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Syria and Ukraine. It was installed in the village of Krasnogvardeisky on private donations by the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers. However, according to one of the deputies of the City Duma, the monument was erected without the consent of the authorities, outwardly it looks like a tombstone, and the mention of Ukraine on it actually buries the local residents fighting there. Although, none of them died in the special operation. The deputy asked the prosecutor’s office to check the legality of the installation of the monument, as well as to help remove it from the alley in the center of the village.

Vasily Ergashov, a member of the Artyomov City Duma from United Russia, appealed to the city prosecutor’s office with a request to check the legality of erecting a monument to participants in local conflicts in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Syria and Ukraine. It was opened on October 24 on Pushkinskaya Alley in the Krasnogvardeisky settlement at the initiative of Raisa Gareeva, Chairman of the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee for the Artemovsky District. The inscription is made on the monument: “Afghan, Chechnya, Syria, Ukraine”, as well as a line from the poem “Requiem” by Robert Rozhdestvensky: “Let us remember everyone by name, remember our grief … This is necessary – not the dead! This is necessary – alive!

“Residents are outraged that those who fight in the special operation are buried alive – no one from the village died there. The monument was erected illegally, without the permission of the administration of the Artemovsky urban district, without the consent of the residents, ”his statement to the prosecutor reads.

According to the deputy, on November 8, the commission on the cultural and historical heritage of Artemovsky admitted that “numerous paragraphs of legislative acts were violated, but decided to legitimize this tombstone retroactively.” “I ask you to check the legality of the installation of the tombstone on Pushkinskaya Alley – in the center of culture and recreation of the Red Guards. I ask you to help remove the immoral inscription “Ukraine”, which is offensive to mothers whose children are at the front, remove the slab from the territory of the recreation area, transfer it to the Center for Military Glory of the village – to the Kamyshlov Regiment Square, where monuments to the heroes of the civil and Patriotic wars are located, ”— stated in the appeal.

Vasily Ergashov explained to Kommersant-Ural that he wrote the appeal after complaints from local residents. “I wrote letters to the City Duma, the head of the Artemovsky urban district, asking them to close the stove until the conflict is resolved, and then move it. I am in favor of perpetuating the memory, but not in this way, ”he said. According to him, he also sent a letter with a request to pay attention to the situation to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Raisa Gareeva told Kommersant-Ural that it was about installing a stele in memory of the combatants, and not about a monument to the dead.

According to her, the decision to install the stele was made taking into account the opinions of veteran organizations and local residents. According to her, the corresponding initiative was signed by 191 people. The manufacture and installation of the stele was carried out at the expense of voluntary donations.

According to Mrs. Gareeva, the installation itself was legal, and the stele will be entered into the register of monuments later. In addition, according to her, the monument itself has not yet been completed, in the near future the initiators will come out for approval to install two more slabs. At the same time, Raisa Gareeva does not see the possibility of moving the stele to the square of the Kamyshlov Regiment, since it is actually used as a parking lot and is in a state of disrepair. She connected Vasily Ergashov’s claims with his personal hostility.

According to the Internet portal “Artemovsky Zephyr”, the authorities acknowledged that the procedure for erecting the monument had not been followed. “I do not disclaim responsibility, we wanted to install it a little later. I agree that it should have been agreed. The land plot is not suitable for the placement of steles and monuments, ”the portal quotes the head of the territorial administration of Krasnogvardeisky Valentina Yusupova.

However, the authorities decided to keep the stele, demarcate the ground under it, and also did not rule out making adjustments to the sketch of the future memorial complex. However, the administration still refused to publicly discuss the sketch.

“There is a government decree [РФ]it is recommended to install commemorative plaques, name the streets with heroes who died in today’s events [СВО на территории Украины] in order to perpetuate the memory of the dead,” Natalia Lesovskikh, deputy head of the Artyomovsk administration, explained the need to preserve the monument.

Tatyana Drogayeva