A memorial sign for internationalist soldiers will appear in Novolukoml

April 23, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. A memorial sign to internationalist soldiers will appear in Novolukoml, Vitebsk region this year, the chairman of the Novolukoml city executive committee, Nikolai Matskevich, told a BELTA correspondent. The sculptural composition, 3 m high and 1.2 m wide, is made of granite in the form of a five-pointed star, cut at the bottom, with a fluttering banner. The stele of the memorial sign bears the inscription "To Internationalist Soldiers". The author of the work, which will adorn the city square near the Palace of Culture of Power Engineers, is Vitebsk sculptor Azat Torosyan. It is planned that the memorial sign will be installed in May. The Chashniki District Executive Committee allocated Br25 million for its creation. The event is timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which is celebrated this year. As Nikolai Matskevich noted, the initiative to create the monument came from the Afghan war veterans of Novolukoml. Local authorities supported this proposal, as 115 servicemen from the Chashniki district participated in combat operations in Afghanistan. During the war, six of them died, many were wounded, and 36 were awarded combat orders and medals. Currently, about 100 Afghan war veterans live in the district. In total, 11 monuments, memorial signs, and memorial plaques have already been erected in the Vitebsk region in memory of the courage of internationalist soldiers. -0-