16 days en route, 14 cities and 9,375 kilometres.
The Memory Train 2023 project has ended with a somber flower-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexandrovsky Garden and a visit to the Victory Museum on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow.
According to the curator of the project, Deputy Federation Council Speaker Konstantin Kosachev, 200 preselected schoolchildren aged 15 to 17 from Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan spent 16 days on the road, covering a distance of 9,375 kilometres and visiting 14 cities, namely, Brest, Grodno, Polotsk, St Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Samara, Volgograd, Tula, Mogilev, Zhlobin, Minsk, Kubinka, and Moscow.
“The Memory Train itinerary is subject to change, but it will invariably depart from Brest on 22 June, since Brest was the first city to come under attack when the Great Patriotic War broke out,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
He noted that the young passengers had the opportunity to attend mass participation events held by the Union State of Russia and Belarus and to enjoy major national and regional holidays.
“In St Petersburg, the children attended the Scarlet Sails festival for high school graduates, which takes place every year; in Ufa, they went to events held as part of the 10th Forum of the Regions of Russia and Belarus with the participation of speakers from the upper chambers of the national parliaments of the two countries; in Minsk, they were welcomed by the president of that country on Independence Day of Belarus. The project ended with a meeting with the Moscow Mayor. In addition, memorial events, wreath- and flower-laying ceremonies at the monuments to fallen soldiers, rallies, meetings with veterans and government officials, as well as an entertainment and educational programme were held in each city along the itinerary,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
In Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, and Ufa, the focus was on the plants that had been relocated to these cities during the Great Patriotic War. As part of an opening ceremony for the project in Brest, the children attended an after-dark rally requiem titled “Be worthy of the memory of the fallen” dedicated to the Day of national remembrance of the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the genocide of the Belarusian people.
The Federation Council senators took turns to join the Memory Train participants along the route. The senators included Deputy Federation Council Speaker Konstantin Kosachev, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy Inna Svyatenko, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security Sergey Martynov, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Farit Mukhametshin, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Bair Zhamsuyev, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture Lyudmila Skakovskaya, Member of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Alexander Vainberg, members of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security Krym Kazanokov, Sergey Kolbin, Margarita Pavlova, and Viktor Sheptiy, Member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Alexander Karelin, Member of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy Sergei Gornyakov, and members of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture Irina Kozhanova and Elena Pisareva.
The Federation Council Deputy Speaker outlined plans to get more countries to take part in the project. “Next year, we hope to see representatives from all CIS countries participate in the Memory Train project. In the year that will mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, we will invite schoolchildren from all 15 former Soviet countries, including the Baltic States and Georgia.” In the future, we may invite children from WWII allied powers.
Konstantin Kosachev pointed out that the project owed its success to the coordinated efforts of the parliaments from the participating countries, the project partners such as Russian Railways and Bolshaya Peremena, as well as senior officials from the Russian and Belarusian regions. “Our effective interaction made it possible for the children to enjoy a unique programme that provided deep immersion in the atmosphere of every city on their itinerary,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
The Memory Train project was launched in 2022 at the initiative of heads of the upper chambers of the parliaments of Russia and Belarus Valentina Matvienko and Natalia Kochanova. With the consent of the presidents of Russia and Belarus, the project has been implemented under the auspices of the Union State since 2023.
Twenty applicants vied for each place on the Memory Train 2023 with 16,000 applications submitted in Russia alone. In Belarus, 38,000 applications were submitted. With the total number of 10th grade students in that country amounting to 60,000 that means that over 60 percent of them have sent an application.