Restoration of the memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Debrecen operation has been completed in Hungary

The restoration of the largest Soviet military grave dedicated to the soldiers who fell in the Debrecen operation of 1944 has been completed in Hungary. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Hungary Evgeny Stanislavov told Izvestia about this on April 23.

"We have restored here the largest burial site in Eastern Hungary, a memorial in honor of the soldiers of the Soviet Army who liberated the east of Hungary during the Debrecen operation. 1,084 soldiers and officers are buried here. There are 11 knights of the Order of the Red Banner of Battle," the diplomat said.

He added that over the past four years, the embassy's war memorial group has restored and put 55 graves in order. More than 25,000 names of those who died during the liberation of Soviet Hungary were also identified. Of these, a little less than 12 thousand were immortalized in restored graves.

Moscow and Budapest together preserve the memory of the heroes of the Second World War. As Stanislavov emphasized, the embassy forms the very historical memory that must not be forgotten, and suppresses any attempts to falsify it. Gyula Thurmer, chairman of the Hungarian Workers' Party, said that the Hungarian people are "eternally grateful" for the liberation of the country from fascism.

"This year we decided to express our respect to the heroes who fell for the liberation of our country. Moreover, this year we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism," he said.

Thürmer noted that thousands of Hungarians joined the campaign of laying flowers and St. George ribbons on the graves of Soviet soldiers. Stanislavov added that the Hungarian authorities comply with the intergovernmental agreement on the protection of monuments and cooperate with the Russian side. Cases of desecration of monuments in the country are rare, they are all "quickly stopped," said the Russian ambassador.

"In Slovakia, the memory of Soviet soldiers is preserved very carefully"

Natalia Balanova, a member of the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots, speaks about historical memory, monument protection and cases of vandalism.

In February, Svetlana Gokieli, chairman of the Russian-Hungarian society of Kaposvar, said in an interview with Izvestia that Hungary takes care of monuments to Red Army soldiers. The city government, the municipality, is responsible for caring for the graves of Soviet soldiers who died in World War II. All the monuments are in good condition.