English
Русский
On July 31, 2023, traditional annual memorial events were held in Slovenia near the famous Russian Chapel on the Vrsic Pass in memory of Russian prisoners of war who died in the Julian Alps in 1916.
The events were organized by the Friendship Society of Slovenia and Russia. This year, more than 1,000 residents of the Republic of Slovenia gathered to honor the memory of Russian soldiers of the First World War.
For the first time, a delegation of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly took part in the memorial event. The Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Valery Ruzin (Russia) and the Chairman of the Council for Historical Memory of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Laila Akhmetova (Kazakhstan) laid the memorial wreath.
Prominent political and public figures took part in the celebrations - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Krka Jože Colarić, an influential public figure in Europe - the former Minister of Defense of Slovenia, leading for years the Slovenian Veteran Organization for the Values of the People's Liberation Struggle Dr. Tit Turnšek and others.
The Russian St Vladimir's Chapel was erected by prisoners of the Austrian prisoner-of-war camp during the First World War. Over 10,000 Russian soldiers died there during the camp's existence.
The Russian chapel was restored in 2005, and memorial events here have already become a tradition. A memorial service has been held annually at this war memorial of Russian-Slovenian friendship since 1993. The ceremony is traditionally attended by members of the public and politicians from Slovenia and Russia.
