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🇷🇺 The Embassy of Russia in Cambodia continues to cover the activities of the “Vympel-Poisk MSU” search team. Today we will talk about the most important find of the searchers - a soldier's medallion. 🪖 On the eve of the Great Patriotic War a new type of medallion was introduced – a black hexagonal capsule with a screw-on lid and a double paper insert. The insert contained basic information about the soldier: full name, rank, year and place of birth, recruitment office, and family information. The soldiers of the 8th Division of the People's Militia had exactly such medallions. And almost the only way to discover the name of the perished is to identify them by such a medallion. However, this process is difficult for a few reasons. For decades of exposure to earth and water, even a plastic protected insert often decays and takes the name of the fallen soldier with it forever. It was also considered bad luck among soldiers to fill the medallion, which was also called a “death medallion”, so many of the capsules found are empty. ⭐ The first three photos show the moment of opening a soldier's medallion found during a search expedition in 2018. To prevent the paper insert, which had been in a plastic case for more than 80 years, from falling apart, it is slowly unfolded in a tub of water. 📃 The fourth photo shows the filled insert of the Red Army soldier Shimanov Viktor Vasilyevich. His remains were discovered by the search team in the spring of 2016 near the village of Uvarovo. The machine gunner was only 16 years old when killed. 📷 Daria Smirnova #Victory80#WeRemember#VympelPoiskMSU

“The war is not over until the last soldier is buried” Russian Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov ⭐ On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, the Russian Embassy in Cambodia is launching a series of publications about “poiskoviks” (“searchers”) – people who revive the names of the Red Army soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the Motherland. Number of missing in action (MIA) during the Great Patriotic War ranges from 1.8 to 2.4 million people. Thanks to the work of searchers, this horrible number is becoming smaller every year. 🪖The “Vympel-Poisk MSU” team was founded in 2015, when Mr Igor Nakhodkin, a military archaeologist, appealed to Mr Victor Sadovnichy, Rector of Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), with a proposal to engage students in the military memorial work. The initiative resonated widely – the search team was to work in the battle sites of the 8th Krasnopresnenskaya Division of the People's Militia, which comprised, according to different data, from 1065 to 1700 students and professors of the MSU. In 10 years, the team managed to find the remains of about eighty Soviet soldiers, thirty of them were identified, and a few soldiers “returned” to their families – the volunteers have found their relatives. Over the next few weeks, we will tell you about the work and life of the team, as well as its members. Stay tuned! 📷 Artem Ramazani-Zubov Spring expedition of the team, 2024 #Victory80#WeRemember#VympelPoiskMSU

🎖October 14 marks 81 years since the Sobibor uprising — a special date in the history of World War II. 📅 It was #OnThisDay in 1943, that the only successful mass escape from the Nazi death camps took place — the Sobibor uprising, led by a Soviet prisoner of war, the Red Army lieutenant Alexander Pechersky. ▪️During the war, Nazi Germany established about 14,000 concentration camps, with the so-called death camps among them, used by the Nazis to exterminate people. Sobibor was one those death camps formed in German-occupied Poland with one aim — to ensure the “final solution to the Jewish question.” Sobibor had been in operation since May 1942. It was located near the village of Sobibor in the south east of Poland near the Western Bug River and the Polish-Soviet border. The camp was set up by the Nazis on a railroad haul between towns Chelm and Wlodawa, which made it possible to ship prisoners to Sobibor by train cars. Sobibor was literally a death factory designed to slaughter people in the most brutal and terrifying ways. Each and every day, up to six trains each carrying 2,000 people — both military and civilians, including senior people, women, and children — delivered prisoners to that camp. ▪️Captives in Sobibor were shot, gassed, starved or exploited to the death. People were subjected to heinous medical experiments. Prisoners were brought to Sobibor for further torture and slaughter from Austria, Czechoslovakia, France. It is known that the two so-called "children trains" left the Netherlands for Sobibor in June 1943. During the time the camp was in operation, the Nazis massacred there up to 250,000 POWs. Sobibor was well-guarded by the Nazis. The camp was fenced off by four rows of three-metre-high barbed wire. The territory around was mined. There were sentinels on towers along the perimeter. Sobibor was also cordoned off by 200 guards, with about a hundred SS soldiers among them. Ukrainian collaborators, including those serving in 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), were in charge of maintaining the “order” in Sobibor. Given all that, escaping from Sobibor seemed unthinkable. ⚔️ On October 14, 1943, the uprising in Sobibor under the leadership of Alexander Pechersky took place. Encouraged by the Soviet officer, the prisoners performed a truly heroic feat — in an unequal battle with the Nazis, POWs killed 11 or, according to other sources, 12 SS soldiers and several guards. Having overpowered the enemy literally with bare hands, the prisoners rushed undaunted to the central gate of Sobibor under heavy machine-gun fire from the towers. Nothing could stop the doomed prisoners, neither the minefields surrounding the camp, nor the barbed wire, nor the gun fire. As a result of the uprising in Sobibor, about 300 prisoners managed to escape from this hell on Earth. Many survivors who managed to escape further joined the ranks of the resistance and continued their fight against the enemy. Alexander Pechersky himself joined the Belarusian partisans, and in 1944 fought the Nazis again. ☝️ The Sobibor uprising is known to be the only ever successful mass escape from Nazi death camps in the history of WWII. The Nazi SS command, unable to bear the shame and trying to hide the traces of their crimes against humanity in Sobibor, ordered to raze the camp to the ground. The crimes committed in Sobibor were part of the charges against the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials, and the stories told by eyewitnesses and participants of the uprising were depicted in many books and films. Today the Alexander Pechersky Foundation in Russia plays an important role in preserving the memory of the Sobibor prisoners’ feat. #Victory79#WeRemember

🌳 On May 5, Russian Embassy in Cambodia joined the “Garden of Memory” International Campaign. Three mango trees were planted in memory of those who fell for the freedom of the Motherland. The event was attended by H.E. Mr Anatoly Borovik, Russian Ambassador to Cambodia, and his Spouse, staff of the diplomatic mission, pupils and teachers of the Embassy School. The head of the diplomatic mission noted the importance of this initiative for the education of the younger generation. 🇷🇺 The “Garden of Memory” Campaign has been held since 2020. The goal of this large-scale project is the annual planting of 27 million trees in memory of Soviet citizens who died during the Great Patriotic War. #Victory80#GardenOfMemory#WeRemember

#WeRemember 🌟 On January 27, 1944, Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazi blockade. 8️⃣7️⃣2️⃣days of the barbaric siegeby the Nazis of our northern capital, which lasted for an unprecedented period from September 8, 1941 until January 27, 1944, and had devastating consequences, terrible sufferings caused by the German invaders to the people of Leningrad, finally ended. According to historical calculations, over a million people perished during those years, including more than 600'000 of children, women, the seniors, and also the wounded and disabled soldiers — they were dying, because of the Nazis, of starvation, cold, exhaustion and disease. #LestWeForget: The unbending people of Leningrad of all ages, men and women from small to large, demonstrated extraordinary Heroism and Courage and went through, with dignity, all the inhuman sufferings by the Nazi barbarians and their accomplices. Despite starvation, living under permanent bombing and shelling by the German and Finnish artillery, the people of Leningrad withstood the siege, defended their city and made their invaluable substantial contribution to the Great Victory. The Nazi criminals did not avoid accountability and paid a high price for the outrageous blockade — the enemy army Group 'North' lost over 900'000 men during the siege and was ultimately destroyed by the Red Army in the Baltic region, Karelia and East Prussia. *** ❗️The history of mankind has never witnessed anything comparable to the Blockade of Leningrad in terms of the scale of the tragedy and the extent of the suffering endured by people. The Nazis and their accomplices followed Hitler’s direct order — to hold Leningrad under a tight siege, fire at anyone crossing the frontline and seek to exterminate all the people in the city. Leningrad was completely encircled in early September 1941, cut off from the rest of the country. The only way to get in and out of the city was by air or across Lake Ladoga’s ice — the route across the lake came to be known as the#RoadOfLife. During the first weeks of the siege, Nazi troops and the Finns, who were holding blockade of Leningrad from the north, shelled the city with heavy and dense artillery fire, resulting in food warehouses being burnt down. As Leningrad received most of its food from other regions of the country, it immediately began to suffer from food shortages, primarily a lack of bread. Only 13 bakery plants remained in operation to serve almost 2.5 million people. Given those acute shortages of food supplies, there were strict rationing norms for bread. From November 1941, factory workers received 250 grammes, while children were entitled to just 125 (!) grammes of bread per day. Many people began to die of starvation. ❗️ However, despite all those inhuman conditions, the City never ever gave up fighting. Life in Leningrad went on and never stopped for a second. *** The Red Army tried to break the blockade on many occasions. Having fought multiple battles, with the fiercest combats taking place on the 'Neva Bridgehead' on the River Neva’s left bank, our forces succeeded in partially lifting the siege in January 1943 as part of Operation Iskra — 'Spark'. 🎖OnJanuary 27, 1944, the Siege of Leningrad was completely lifted following a rapid offensive by the Red Army, with the Leningrad and Novgorod regions being also liberated from the Nazi invaders. Wehrmacht troops were forced to retreat to the Baltics, where they were later totally defeated and destroyed. 💬Maria Zakharova: The defence of Leningrad has become a symbol of courageof the Soviet people. <...> The people of Leningrad saved their city despite incredible sufferings — they have saved it as their human dignity. That is probably the greatest heroism of the people of Leningrad, the greatest sacrifice they made for all of us — not just for the people of our country but for the world as a whole. (From the briefing by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, January 22, 2026)

#NoStatuteOfLimitations 🗓 25 years ago, to the day, on March 24, 1999, NATO launched a full-scale aggression and started mercilessly bombing Yugoslavia in gross violation of the fundamental principles of international law enshrined in the UN Charter. The US and NATO’s military operation against Belgrade was undertaken without the approval of the UNSC The US & its cronies bombed the cities, including Belgrade, villages & civilian infrastructure for 78 days, blowing up bridges, passenger trains and buses and killing women, children & elderly people. By doing that, the West destroyed the post-WWII foundations of European security and started replacing the legitimate mechanisms that regulated international relations with a “rules-based order”. ▪️ 3,000 cruise missiles were fired at a sovereign European republic, & 80,000 tonnes of aerial bombs were dropped on the heads of people. The use of depleted uranium ammunition contaminated vast areas & caused an unprecedented rise in cancer-related diseases, which affects people up to this day. 200,000+ non-Albanian residents of Kosovo, who had to flee from their homes, have still not yet returned there. Using the aggression as a pretext, members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army committed heinous crimes, including the kidnapping and murder of Serbs for body parts. Many of these criminals are still at large. ❗️No NATO representative has been called to account. The victims of the aggression were written off as “collateral damage,” which means that they were the civilian casualties of the operations conducted by the United States, Britain and their satellites to attain their geopolitical ambitions. The question of the NATO allies’ responsibility for the damage they have done to international relations and Yugoslavia remains open. 🕯 The military operation NATO waged against sovereign Yugoslavia more than 20 years ago is a tragedy inflicted upon the people of Yugoslavia by NATO warmongers with lasting and multifaceted consequences. #WeRemember#Yugoslavia1999

🗓 September 8 — the Day of Military Glory of Russia. ⚔️#OTD in 1812, the Battle of Borodino — the key clash between the Russian Army, helmed by Mikhail Kutuzov, and Napoleon's invaders during the 1812 Patriotic War. The battle near Borodino village commenced at 5 a.m. on September 8. Napoleon's troops were being attacked all day long. By paying the toll of huge losses, the enemy seemed to gain some tactical advantage. But the depleted Russian units took a final stand — by the evening, the French legions were crushed, with the remaining troops having rolled back to the initial positions. The fierce combat lasted all day, almost every third soldier from both sides fell on the battlefield. #Borodino is now a common name, and no wonder why — that clash was the largest and most brutal fight of the Patriotic War of 1812, which has forever went down to the history of our country as a symbol of courage, fortitude and love for Motherland. 🕯 On the day of military glory of Russia, #WeRemember the feat of the Heroes who defended the honor and freedom of our country. *** Napoleon failed to defeat the Russian forces, thus dealing the fate of his army — in few months the invaders were retreating westward, suffering huge losses, essentially running for their lives. ☝️ After destroying Napoleon's legions, the Russian army engaged in a liberation campaign in Europe, having freed many nations of the continent from the French rule, and entered Paris with a triumph. 🎥©Russian Military Historical Society / Victory Museum

#MartyrsForTruth is a special project dedicated to commemorating Russian journalists who lost their lives at the hands of Ukrainian neo-Nazis. On #WorldPressFreedomDay, we honor the journalists who perished for making the truth known to the public. ▪️Darya Dugina (1992–2022) — political scientist, war correspondent, Komsomolskaya Pravda radio host, Tsargrad Media correspondent, Russian world activist, daughter of Russian philosopher and author Alexander Dugin. Darya was killed in a terrorist attack on August 20, 2022. Her car was blown up on a highway outside Moscow. According to the investigation, the attack was perpetrated by a Ukrainian secret service agent, Natalya Vovk, who had been following Darya for months. Vovk planted a bomb under Darya’s car and detonated it remotely. The agent had used her underage daughter to divert attention when entering Russia and during her later activities. In the fall of 2022, a Moscow court arrested the terrorist in absentia. #WeRemember

🇷🇺🇪🇹Embassy of Russia in Ethiopia: 🖋 On April 24, the annual international patriotic event #VictoryDictationtook place at the School of the Russian Embassy in Ethiopia. Diplomats, teachers, and students took part in the event. Participants answered 25 questions about the key dates, events, and heroes of the war. Everyone received personalized certificates. ☝️ The history test aims to preserve the memory of the events of the Great Patriotic War. This year, the dictation is dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov. ❗️ Over the seven years of its existence, the Victory Dictation has become a significant patriotic project, uniting millions of Russian citizens and our compatriots abroad. #WeRemember#Victory81

⚔️ On January 8, 1942, the #BattleOfRzhev commenced – one of the most large-scale and brutal battles of the Great Patriotic War, lasting 438 days. The chronology of the battle includes four offensive operations carried out by Soviet forces of the Western Front (Commander – Georgy Zhukov) and the Kalinin Front (Commander – Ivan Konev) against Germany’s Army Group Centre. Their objective was to liberate Rzhev, Sychevka, and Vyazma, thereby eliminating the Rzhev-Vyazma salient. In the Rzhev sector, the Wehrmacht deployed one of its largest groupings – 1,569,000 personnel, around 13,000 artillery pieces, and 1,100 tanks. These forces were tied down in prolonged fighting with the Red Army and could not be redeployed to other key sectors of the front – the Caucasus and Stalingrad. In the winter of 1943, following the crushing defeat of Nazi forces at Stalingrad, when the strategic initiative finally shifted to the USSR, the German command decided to abandon the Rzhev-Vyazma salient. The pursuit of the retreating enemy, from March 2-31, 1943, pushed the front line 130-160 kilometres farther away from Moscow. On March 3, 1943, Rzhev was fully liberated. 🕯 The offensive and defensive operations conducted by the Western and Kalinin Fronts were of decisive strategic importance in achieving the turning point in favour of the Red Army across the entire Soviet-German theatre of war. The feat of Soviet soldiers is eternal and shall never be forgotten. In 2020, at the initiative of Great Patriotic War veterans and the Russian Military Historical Society, and with the participation of President of Russia Vladimir Putin, the Rzhev Memorial was unveiled at the site of the fierce battles of 1942-1943 – a 25-metre figure of a soldier, rising above the field and seemingly dissolving into a flock of cranes, symbolising the souls of fallen soldiers – perished, yet never forgotten. #Victory81#WeRemember

#FacesOfVictory 🗓 On April 5, 1923, Soviet fighter pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union Timur Frunze was born. The son of Mikhail Frunze, a renowned Soviet military leader, revolutionary, and prominent Civil War commander, Timur was destined for a military career from childhood. After losing his parents and grandmother early in life, he was taken under the care of Kliment Voroshilov, who served as People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the Soviet Union. At the age of 10, Timur was enrolled in a specialised Air Forces school. Upon completing his studies there, he continued his training at the Myasnikov Kacha Red Banner Military Aviation School, which he graduated with honours in 1941 and was commissioned with the rank of lieutenant. ✍️ Timur’s teachers recognised both his determination and his natural ability. In a service review, his course director, Senior Lieutenant Nemykin, wrote: “I have never met a young man who so eagerly absorbed new knowledge. His interests extend far beyond the curriculum...” Beginning in 1938, Timur served in the Red Army. After he finished flight school in September 1941, Air Forces command initially intended to keep the young pilot away from the front lines so he could build experience in the rear. However, Frunze strongly insisted on being sent to the front. In December 1941, he was assigned to the 161st Fighter Aviation Regiment on the Soviet Northwestern Front, where he flew a Yak-1 fighter aircraft. During his service, Frunze completed nine combat missions, shooting down two enemy aircraft alone and one as a member of a two-person crew. 🕯 On January 19, 1942, his life was tragically cut short: at just 18 years old, Timur died in an unequal battle against seven enemy fighters. The Soviet pilot was buried with full military honours at the cemetery in the village of Kresttsy, Novgorod Region. After the war, his remains were reinterred at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. 🎖 On March 16, 1942, by an executive order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Lieutenant Timur Frunze was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. #Victory81#WeRemember

#Victory80 🌟 On September 14, 1944, the Red Army launched the Baltic strategic offensive operation. Its primary goal was to liberate the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics from the Nazi scourge by defeating the enemies' Army group 'North' and expelling the German troops. The goal was achieved, although the task was arduous! Following the operation, the Nazi troops were encircled in the so-called Courland Pocket (where the enemy resisted until the vary May of 1945), and thereafter ultimately eliminated by the Red Army. #NoStatuteOfLimitations Having invaded the Baltic region in the summer of 1941, instead of providing the “independence” promised to the Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians, the Nazis established the occupation regime in the Soviet Baltics, which was characterized by terror and genocide. The Nazis' plan was to make the region a part of the German Reichskommissariat Ostland. ▪️ When the Nazis occupied Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, the local radical nationalists and pro-fascist organisations raised their heads there and swore allegiance to Hitler. Doing the dirty job for their Nazi masters, the Baltic collaborators carried out atrocities with extreme cruelty, executing civilians, burning villages, and organising massacres. With their involvement, more than 100'000 people were annihilated in concentration camps, such as Salaspils and Klooga. 👉Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian collaborators also took part in the mass executions in the neighbouring regions of the Soviet Union (including in Belarus). They were also involved in the Nazis' campaign to exterminate Jews. The blood of hundreds of thousands of civilians and POWs is on the hands of those criminals. Today, unfortunately, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania glorify those Nazi criminals on the governmental level, with monuments unveiled in the honour of the Nazi Baltic henchmen and gatherings held in the Baltics to commemorate Waffen-SS legionnaires, other Nazi collaborators, and their adherents. *** During #WWII, the Baltic region was of crucial strategic importance to the Reich on the Eastern front. The control over the region allowed the Nazis to rule over the Gulf of Finland from the south and the eastern Baltic, and to ensure uninterrupted deliveries of Swedish and Norwegian raw materials critical for the Nazi war machine, such as iron ore, coal, and others. The Nazis extracted agricultural resources from Latvia and Lithuania, while Estonia alone provided Nazi Germany with nearly half a million tonnes of oil products annually. ❗️ Furthermore, the Baltic region shielded the way to East Prussia — the stronghold of German militarism. So, the Nazis were seeking to retain the Baltic bridgehead at any cost. The Nazis installed in the Baltics powerful fortifications, designed for long-term defence, including the so-called Tannenberg Line — a complex of heavy fortified lines and trenches stretching for more than 50 km long and 25-30 km deep, located about 20-25 km west of Narva — on the isthmus between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipus (Chudskoye). ⚔️ On September 14, 1944, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Baltic Fronts of the Red Army launched the strategic offensive towards Riga. Within just three days, the Soviet forces advanced up to 50 km. On September 22, Tallinn was liberated, followed by Riga on October 13. The final stage of the operation was the liberation of the Moonsund archipelago in northwestern Estonia: by November 24, the Nazi troops were expelled from the islands of Ösel (today’s Saaremaa) and Dago (Hiiumaa). As a result of the Baltic strategic offensive operation, the Red Army inflicted a crushing defeat to the enemy. The Nazi army group 'North' was mostly destroyed, with its remnants trapped on the Courland Peninsula, unable to engage further in Germany’s eastern defences in 1945. 🎖 112 Red Army soldiers were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. More than 332,000 received orders and medals. #WeRemember