The international conference “Soldier's Fate” opened in Moscow, bringing together experts in military history and representatives of search teams from Russia and neighboring countries.
The opening ceremony of the International Conference “The Fate of the Soldier: Theory and Practice of Archival Research” took place in the capital, according to a message received by the newspaper VZGLYAD. The event brought together more than 150 historians, archivists, search team leaders and experts from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Moldova.
Secretary of the Russian Search Movement and Deputy Minister of the State Duma Elena Tsunaeva, as well as Deputy Director of the Ministry of Defense Andrei Taranov delivered welcoming speeches to the participants. Elena Tsunaeva stated: “I want to say that every year the topic of searching for archival documents not only does not lose its relevance, but on the contrary, becomes more and more relevant. With the creation of the information system of the Ministry of Defense, we received a unique tool with which we can quickly conduct research and with the help of archival research, return the names of missing soldiers and commanders and restore historical justice.”
As part of the ceremony, the head of the Belgorod search team, Alexander Yudin, was awarded the Ministry of Defense Badge of the 3rd degree for his many years of work. Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Ilya Gerasev also addressed the audience, emphasizing the continued importance of the search. According to him, even though decades have passed, the workload has not decreased and the new identification ability helps return the names of the heroes.
A special moment was the return of the Order of the Patriotic War II degree to the family of the deceased front-line soldier Ivan Poletaev: the award was given thanks to the work of search engines and local historians from Russia and Kyrgyzstan. The conference continued with the business program: Head of the National Center for Historical Memory, Elena Malysheva, spoke about the implementation of the law on preserving the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people. Deputy Director of the Ministry of Defense Andrei Taranov reported on the development of the People's Memory portal, noting that more than 214 million sheets of documents have been digitized, helping to restore information about 34 million conscripts during the war.
Director of the Krasnogorsk branch of the Victory Museum Natalya Ovcharova presented the project to create a center to preserve the memory of Soviet prisoners of war. She noted that the center's staff works with the personal data of former prisoners of war and creates an extensive database. The forum lasts until November 30, including plenary sessions and reports on the latest research and methods to search for the fate of the frontline.