Representatives of the 70 professions in Ingushetia will read 70 lines of verse for the 70th anniversary of the Victory. The initiators of the action want to show that doctors, teachers, guards, builders are now able to do things they like, to benefit society thanks to the victory in the Great Patriotic War. In addition, residents of the Ingushetian capital will join the All-Russia memorial action 'Immortal Regiment', whose members stand on the Day of Victory in a single column to preserve the memory of the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War in every memory. The head of the republic, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, told Vestnik Kavkaza about the significance of Victory Day for Ingushetia.
- I want to congratulate through Vestnik Kavkaza all the veterans today who are alive on this great holiday. I wish them health, health and health again. We congratulate all the residents of our nation, our country, the former Soviet Union, on this great date. This is a really great date, when our fathers forged victory in the name of today's peaceful days.
- Yunus-bek Bamatgireevich, what does this holiday mean to you personally?
- There is not a single family whose grandparents, relatives and namesakes were not participating in the war. Undoubtedly, it also affected my family. My father and mother were left pretty early without parents, but there are relatives who participated in the Second World War, and of course, this must be remembered even if they did not participate, a commitment to remember World War II.
For me, as for the Ingush, it is important that a small nation, even in the percentage of us, the Ingush people, before WWII there were 96 thousand people, from these 96 thousand, 21 thousand were called to the front.
- Were there volunteers?
- Of these 21 thousand people, somewhere around 4700 were volunteers. This is also a huge percentage. Of these people 6500 people died at the front, as a percentage it is also a big figure, if we compare the general population to the total number of those who went to the front. Of course, our small nation in that time made an enormous contribution to the victory.
I am proud that my countrymen participated in the defense of the Brest Fortress. Not only the fortress, but also other outposts along the border of Lviv and Brest and other areas on the western borders of the USSR. The last defender of the Brest Fortress was our countryman, Umat-Girey Barhanoev. We built him a magnificent monument in Nazran. This, too, is a subject of pride and respect.
57 Ingushetians were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, a pretty huge number for such a small population. And once again, we show and prove that our ancestors in all wars are appropriately represented, as well as other peoples of the Soviet Union, and before the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, in all the wars waged by Russia.
- You are yourself a Guards Colonel, Hero of the Russian Federation, awarded the title of the roll to the Kosovo Pristina ...
- This holiday for me as a military man, who also had to participate in certain military operations, saw the deaths of people, friends, companions, of course for me it is a special excitement, awe. Because people who have gone through the grindstones of war have a special attitude to such memorable dates as the 70th anniversary of the Victory.
And as the head of the republic, I have to speak about the political conjuncture which is building up in foreign policy of trying to wipe out the story in favor of those who in general have no relation to the war, or have only their political selfish interests. Victory Day is the most important holiday not only of this year, but of this century. We must do everything possible for the celebration to be held at the highest level.
