Officials Refuse Alley of Heroes for SVO Fallen

In the working settlement of Rudnya, Volgograd Oblast, relatives of those killed in the zone of the special military operation (SVO) are being refused the improvement of the Alley of Heroes. According to them, the district administration adopts projects on perpetuating the memory of heroes without considering residents« opinions, and their own initiatives are rejected because »the special military operation is not yet over.«

Residents recorded a video address to Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matvienko asking her to help perpetuate the memory of the fallen servicemen.

«We, who have lost our closest and dearest people, have been asking the authorities for only one thing for two years — not to forget the residents of our district who died for the Fatherland. Appeals to all instances find no support, and we receive formal rejections,» the residents complain. «It is our local deputies who do not hear us, do not invite us to discuss the issues they are considering about perpetuating the memory of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland. Twice we have been denied satisfaction of our appeals regarding the improvement of the district»s Alley of Heroes of the SVO. The reason for refusal is the same — the special military operation is not over! The Governor of Volgograd Oblast, Andrey Bocharov, without waiting for the end of the SVO, initiated the creation of a memorial to the Heroes of the SVO on Mamayev Kurgan, but our local deputies, under the pretext of the SVO, are stalling the implementation of laws and presidential decrees on perpetuating the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland at the local level.«

According to residents, there is an Alley of Military Glory in the settlement, but it was allegedly improved without projects and approvals.

«The local authorities, when improving the »Alley of Military Glory named after Hero of the Soviet Union Pavel Rzhevsky« using state subsidies, carried out the work without a project, but from us, at the stage of coordinating the improvement of the Alley of Heroes of the SVO, they demand a project?» the residents indignantly say. «Without public discussion, they installed a memorial sign »Heroes of the SVO« 1.5 meters high on a 5x5 meter platform in the depths of the park. They did not consult with us, did not develop a project. We ask you to conduct an independent assessment of the responses to our appeals regarding the improvement of the Alley of Heroes of the SVO of the Rudnyansky Municipal District.»

The editorial board of V1.RU received a response from the administration of the Rudnyansky District. In it, the head of the district, Vladimir Poletaev, allegedly claims that «there are many nuances.»

«The creation of memorial structures is recommended to be carried out according to separate projects, taking into account the allocation of financial resources. The design solution attached to the petition does not have a cost estimate, which makes it difficult to understand the amount of financial resources needed to implement the project,» assures the head Vladimir Poletaev. «The creation of memorial structures in memory of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland is recommended no earlier than 2 years after the historical event. There are many nuances that must be taken into account when forming the list of servicemen whose photos and full names can be placed in the Gallery of Heroes of the SVO. Many participants of the SVO have been listed as missing in action for a long period. There are residents of the Rudnyansky District who left for the SVO not from the Rudnyansky District, as well as those buried outside the Rudnyansky District. Employees of the local history museum are working to update the data on SVO participants from the Rudnyansky District. We consider it premature to install the Alley of Heroes of the SVO. Moreover, the Alley of Heroes on Krasnaya Street already exists, and a monument to participants of the SVO has been installed there.»