Vyacheslav Petushenko, Chairman of the Board of Avtodor State Company, Evgeny Nosov, Deputy Head of the Federal Road Agency, Ravil Akhmetshin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation, Oleg Ponaryin, Police Major General, Deputy Head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Grigory Volkov, Deputy Finance Director of Department of Transport and Operational Qualities of Highways of "Rosdornii", laid flowers at the monument to road workers on the eve of Victory Day, May 9th, on the 71st kilometer of M-1 Belarus highway in Odintsovo district of Moscow region.
A solemn meeting was held as a part of the ceremony. In his speech he head of Avtodor State Company noted that for the sixteenth year in a row, road workers meet here, on M-1 Belarus, at the monument to road workers to lay flowers and commemorate the heroes on the eve of the great holiday. " Remembering the fallen soldiers is one of the most important tasks for our generation. And also working and living in such a way to prevent war from happening again," Vyacheslav Petushenko said.
"Due to self-sacrificing glorious deed of Soviet soldiers, we are able to work peacefully and build new modern highways," he noted. "Not a single major operation during the Great Patriotic War was prepared without the soldiers of automobile and road formations and units. There were 400,000 road workers in total at the front."
"The 71st kilometer of M-1 highway became an iconic location for all of us. During the war, at the intersection of Minsk and Mozhaisk highways, it was the place where the most important defense center was concentrated. The monument to road workers that was opened on May 7, 2002, became a vivid reminder of the glorious deed of Russian road workers during that terrible war, a symbol of their resilience. Preserving the historical memory of the glorious deed of our people, we traditionally meet here on the eve of the Victory Day," Evgeny Nosov noted in his welcome speech.
Avtodor State Company commemorates all the fallen in the Great Patriotic War. The memorial "To Those Who Died in Defense of Their Fatherland" was opened on the 561st kilometer of M-11 Neva highway in 2020. It is dedicated to the glorious deed of soldiers of the Second Assault Army fallen in 1942 near Myasnoy Bor village in Novgorod region.
"When constructing M-11 highway we passed swamps and forests that evidenced fierce fights and falling of tens of thousands of our soldiers. We reburied their remains and decided to create a monument there. It was solemnly opened on June 27, 2020," Vyacheslav Petushenko told. The "My Saved Russia" song with lyrics by poetess Olga Kulanina was written specially for this event. It was performed by Lyudmila Nikolaeva, the Honored Artist of Russia, the Art Director of Russian Soul group. The video for this song was premiered today as part of the solemn event.
