DOBRUSH DISTRICT, 9 December (BelTA) – The remains of Vladimir Laikov, a soldier of the Red Army from Novozybkov District of Russia's Bryansk Oblast, who died in Belarus' Loyev District in 1943, have been handed over to representatives of the Novozybkov city administration and the soldier's family. The ceremony took place on the Belarusian-Russian border on 9 December, BelTA has learned.
The remains of the soldier were found by a search expedition near the village of Mars in Loyev District earlier this year. Members of the expedition also found a medallion, a cartridge for Mosin's rifle, and a piece of paper that helped identify the soldier.
Vladimir Laikov, born in 1924, joined the 307th rifle division on 27 September 1943. The division took part in battles near the village of Mars. From November 1943, Vladimir Laikov's family did not receive any letters from him and thought he went missing.
The participants of the search expedition contacted the soldier's niece – Lyubov Melnikova. She told journalists that the whole family had waited for the soldier to return home. “My mother often cried. She told everyone about him, about his wish to enlist and to help people. She loved her brother very much. Unfortunately, she did not live to see this,” Lyubov Melnikova noted.
Vladimir Laikov will be buried in the village of Zamishevo in Novozybkov District.
“Our fathers' deed will forever remain in their descendants' memory as the best example of selflessness and devotion to the motherland,” Gomel Oblast Vice Governor Andrei Konyushko said as he attended the ceremony. “Educational institutions and public associations put a lot of effort in taking care of hundreds of war graves. New sites appear on the map of Gomel Oblast all the time. For example, the Ola Memorial opened in Svetlogorsk District in 2020. The search activities are going as scheduled. This year alone, we have found another 12 war graves,” he noted.
“Our ancestors did not divide themselves into ethnic groups ,” Bryansk Oblast Deputy Governor Aleksandr Korobko stressed. “They gave their lives for the common Victory, so that we could leave under a peaceful sky, help each other, and always remember that together we are strong,” he noted. He thanked members of the search expeditions who bring heroes' names back to memory.
More than 12,000 soldiers were buried in mass graves in Loyev District. Over 100 of them are natives of Novozybkov District. Search expeditions find remains of fallen soldiers every year. Over the past three years alone, they established the identities of more than 500 previously unknown heroes, 88 of them in 2020.
Photos by Sergei Kholodilin