Rustam Minnikhanov meets representatives of the search movement of Tatarstan

On May 2, in Kazan, during his visit to the centre of the regional public youth organization of Tatarstan "Fatherland Association", Tatarstan President Rutsam Minnikhanov talked to representatives of the search movement of the republic and got acquainted with the main areas of their activities. Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin took part in the meeting.

Head of the organization Aleksander Konoplev said that the Fatherland Association of the republic has been operating since 1993. It consists of 65 primary organizations, which include 1,060 people. These are search parties, military-patriotic and military-historical clubs from 21 municipalities. The main activity is the perpetuation of the memory of soldiers who died defending the Fatherland, as well as the development of military-patriotic education.

In 2019, the Fatherland Association organized work of 44 youth search parties of Tatarstan, including more than 600 people, in 29 expeditions on the battle fields of the WW II. As a result of the expeditions, the remains of 437 Soviet soldiers were recovered. The remains of five of our countrymen are buried in Tatarstan. The search results are stored on a special website.

In 2016, the Association implemented the project of the Search Front All-Russian Search School, where search activists master innovative methods of conducting search work. During this period, as many as 3,000 search activists from 27 regions of Russia underwent training.

During his visit to the centre, Minnikhanov was represented a series of books entitled “Names from Soldiers' Medallions,” published since 2005. They include the most complete list of soldiers of the Soviet Army who died during the WW II, whose remains were found and identified during search expeditions. A total of 9 volumes have been published.

Then, Tatarstan President visited the museum, where various items, including personal belongings of fighters, weapons, uniforms and other things, found by search parties on the battlefields are displayed. 

Minnikhanov was also informed about the progress in the restoration of the legendary Pe-2 aircraft. The bomber aircrafts  were produced at the Kazan Aviation Plant. During the war years, more than 10,000 units were produced. However, there is not a single copy of the Pe-2 in Tatarstan. As part of the Wings of Tatarstan project, activists are restoring an airplane from the fragments and debris of real combat vehicles fallen during the World War II. They have managed to restore two M-105 engines, engine frames and landing gear of the aircraft. The centre section of the aircraft is being restored at the moment. It is assumed that the reconstructed model of the Pe-2 aircraft will become a monument of the military and labour glory.

Minnikhanov thanked the search activists for difficult and very important work they do, noting their great contribution to the preservation of historical memory.