Sevastopol Senator: "Baku has earned the title of the City of Military Glory, because there would be no front line without the rear"

Interview by Vladimir Nesterov. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

Yesterday, on Nakhimov Square, next to the memorial to the heroic defense of Sevastopol in 1941-42, Sevastopol picked up the baton of the advocacy campaign 'It is your duty and honor to protect your motherland!', dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory. The "Victory Relay Race" was launched on February 2, 2015 on the borders of the CIS. The relay began in two Hero-Cities: the Hero-Fortress of Brest and the Hero-City of Murmansk. The relay will take place in Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. After that it will return to Russia.
Vestnik Kavkaza talked about the celebration of Victory Day with the senator from Sevastopol, a member of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Olga Timofeyeva.

- Let’s talk about the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory. We remember that last year the main parade of the country was held in Sevastopol, and the president of the country came there. What about preparations for the event this year? What can we expect?

- For Sevastopol, Victory Day is the main holiday. There are two main sacred holidays in Sevastopol – Victory Day and the Day of the Naval Forces. It is our tradition. Sevastopol was founded as the main Black Sea fleet base. Today this status is restored. And I believe it has been done forever. As for Victory Day, the victory was so difficult to achieve by Sevastopol, where almost all the houses were destroyed; only a few thousand residents stayed there, as people left to evacuate or died. People say that if all the shrapnel of the bombs which fell on Sevastopol could be collected, they would cover territory of the city with a dead layer. Sevastopol was buried under a layer of shrapnel a meter high. Traditionally, we organize a parade of veterans who are supported by their relatives and friends and march from the House of Officers to Lazarev Square. When veterans pass, the whole city shouts “Thank you! Congratulations!” to them. It is inexpressible. The whole city gathers at a small spot near Nakhimov Avenue; adults and children come from all parts of Crimea. It is a real Victory Day in the Hero-City of Sevastopol. I think it will always be like that, while Sevastopol’s soul is alive. It doesn’t matter whether it is an anniversary or not, it is Sevastopol.

- Recently, Gennady Zyuganov, responding to journalists’ questions, said that Baku deserved to be called a Hero-City, as 80% of the oil was produced there during the Great Patriotic War. We realize that oil means aircraft and tanks. His colleague in the State Duma, General Nikolai Antoshkin, supported the idea and said that maybe it won’t be a Hero-City (the status hasn’t been issued since 1985), but at least a City of Military Glory. What do you think about the idea?

- I think that the status of Hero-City should be issued to cities which went through all the disasters of the war. There are not many of them – only 13, together with Brest. I think it should stay this way, as they really passed through the military activities. However, a City of Military Glory or a City of Labor Glory would be the right term. We can speak not only about Baku, but also about the Urals, as major plants were evacuated there – the Urals, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk. And Baku. We should discuss this question. We should pay tribute to the Labor Cities, without which there would have been no victory. My native Nizhny Novgorod is also a City of Military Glory, as it worked for the victory. It would be fair to do so; it is paying tribute to the labor done by the people who lived in these cities and towns, as there would have been no victory without them.