Actor Yevgeny Sidikhin on the importance of the Internationalist Soldier Remembrance Day

 

Today the Member States of the Collective Security Treaty Organization celebrate the Internationalist Soldier Remembrance Day.

 

As you may recall, the holiday marks the day of the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan on February 15, 1989. Traditionally, this day hosts commemorative events.

 

Yevgeny Sidikhin, one of the most famous internationalist soldiers in cinema, stressed the particular importance of this date in his comments to the press service of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.

 

“The memory is important to understanding where we are now. The guys who did not return should have their own Day...,” the actor shared.

 

Not everyone knows that Yevgeny Sidikhin was conscripted directly from the Leningrad theatre school. First, he was sent to a boot camp in Turkestan and then to the north-west of Afghanistan, to Herat. He served in a tank battalion of the 101st motorized rifle regiment of the Zimovnikov 5th guards motorized rifle division.

 

In the Republic of Belarus, the Internationalist Soldier Day has an official status granted by the President of the Republic of Belarus. In Russia, the holiday is called the Remembrance Day of the Russians Who Performed Their Duty Outside the Fatherland.

 

This day unites soldiers who fought in Afghanistan and participants in more than three dozen armed conflicts that occurred after the end of the Second World War (in Korea, Vietnam, Angola, Syria and other countries).

 

On the Internationalist Soldier Remembrance Day, it is customary to bring flowers to the monuments of fallen heroes. On February 15, meetings with veterans, parades, festivals of patriotic song and other solemn commemorative events traditionally take place.