In the Smolensk region, together with guests from the Czech Republic, we unveiled a memorial plaque to the Hero of the Soviet Union, Peter Filimonov, the liberator of Brno. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to the Russian Federation also expressed his support for us.
On April 19, 2026, in the Pochinkovsky district of the Smolensk region, on the day of the 81st anniversary of the death of Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Ivlevich Filimonov, we held the grand opening of a memorial plaque in his small homeland. We placed the board in the building of the Muryginsky school in the village of Murygino, where the future hero studied.
The initiative to perpetuate the memory of the Soviet hero in Russia and the Czech Republic came from the Czech side, the Starovichki Military History Club and its chairman Radek Garashty. Later, Czech politician, journalist and photographer Roman Blaschko joined the project. Our Smolensk organizations participating in the Memory Without Borders project enthusiastically accepted the initiative and provided full cooperation.
Czech guests Radek Garashta and Roman Blashko attended the ceremony. Together with students, teachers, local residents, veterans and representatives of the administration, they took part in a commemorative rally. Schoolchildren carried a guard of honor, the younger classes read poetry, the senior students prepared a documentary story about the hero’s military path. We entrusted the right to cut the ribbon at the opening of the board to the Czech guests and the best students of the school.
We remind you of the feat of Pyotr Filimonov: he was born in 1922, a second lieutenant in the Guards, commander of a tank platoon. In April 1945, during the liberation of Czechoslovakia, his platoon was the first to break into the village of Cheich near Brno. On April 19, 1945, in the battle for the Popovka stronghold, his tank was hit and caught fire, but the officer fired until the ammunition exploded. By decree of May 15, 1946, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. He is buried at the Central Military Cemetery in Brno.
While we were unveiling the plaque in the Smolensk region, Czech social activists laid flowers on the grave of the hero in Brno and conveyed warm words of gratitude to us via video link.
We have received an official letter from the Czech Ambassador to Russia, Daniel Kostoval, who, in particular, wrote: “I have read your letter with great interest… I really appreciate the perpetuation of the exploits of the brave soldiers of the Red Army… Pyotr Ivlevich Filimonov was among those immortal heroes… Honor to his memory!” We read out the text of the letter at the rally, and handed over the original to the museum of the Muryginsky School.
For us, the participants of the Memory Without Borders project, the unveiling of the plaque to Peter Filimonov is not just a tribute to one hero. This is an important step in creating and strengthening the common historical memory of the peoples of Russia and the Czech Republic. Our project, which has been bringing together public figures and historians from Russia, Belarus and Poland since 2025, proves that the memory of those who liberated Europe from Nazism at the cost of their own lives knows no state borders. The unveiling of the plaque to Peter Filimonov is one of the key events of our project in 2026.
Letter from the Czech Ambassador to Russia addressed to the organizers:
