Dear comrades, friends and colleagues in the noble cause of preserving historical memory! The international commemorative campaign “Flame of Victory”, which started on May 8, 2026, has been successfully completed. Five days sacred fire lit from the Eternal flame hero city of Smolensk, combined seven States: Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Republic of Moldova, the Republic of Abkhazia and Poland. The project initiated by the international movement “Memory Without Borders” has once again convincingly confirmed that the true memory of the heroic deed of the Soviet people knows no borders and is not subject to political conjuncture.
The essence of the action was a symbolic relay race: according to the organizers, the flame of the lamp, lit in Smolensk personally by Irina Mikhailovna Dorozhkina, the daughter of the legendary Victory standard—bearer Mikhail Alekseevich Egorov, was transmitted through a video frame to comrades abroad — to all those who honorably preserve the memory of Soviet soldiers far from their Homeland. In each participating country, the lamp was accepted and installed at a memorial or military burial, creating a single, living chain of memory that connected generations, countries and destinies. The idea of this relay race was born in April 2026 during a joint Russian-Czech initiative to perpetuate the memory of Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Filimonov, when the participants of Memory Without Borders offered to transfer a piece of the Eternal Flame to all those who continue to keep vigil in memory today.
The main symbolic moment of the action was the participation of Irina Mikhailovna Dorozhkina— the daughter of Mikhail Alekseevich Egorov, who hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag on April 30, 1945, together with Meliton Kantaria and Lieutenant Alexei Berest. It was Mikhail Egorov who lit the Eternal Flame in Smolensk in 1968, and 58 years later, a piece of this fire, passed on by his daughter, became the relay that connected the countries. Irina Mikhailovna laid flowers at her father’s grave and lit a lamp from the Eternal Flame, addressing the participants with heartfelt words: “I want a piece of this fire to burn today where the ashes of the Soviet soldier are, where his feat is remembered and his memory is honored.”
Our comrades in all seven countries lit lamps at war memorials, mass graves and monuments to Soviet soldiers-liberators. The key points of the action were: in Russia — Smolensk, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen (a monument to school students who did not return from the war), the village of Bykovo and Ilyinsky (Moscow region), Genichesk (Kherson region), Selidovo (DPR), Yevpatoria (Crimea); in the Republic of Belarus — Minsk (historical-The Stalin Line Cultural Complex); in the Czech Republic — Ust-nad-Labem (activist Radek Glavacek), Decin (Folknarge cemetery), Mikulov, Gustopeche, Ostrava, Starovichki village (South Moravia); in Germany — Ribnitz-Damgarten; in the Republic of Moldova — Chisinau (Eternity memorial complex); in the Republic of Abkhazia — Sukhum (journalist Mariana Kotova); in Poland, the town of Sopot (cemetery of Soviet soldiers-liberators). It is especially valuable that in the Polish Republic our comrade, contrary to the official political situation, preserved the memory of the Red Army soldiers.
The organizers express their sincere and friendly gratitude to the parliamentarians and public figures who personally supported the action and gave it a special human warmth. Yaroslav Foldyna, a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, lit a lamp at the Folknarge cemetery in Decin near the graves of Soviet soldiers who fell during the liberation of Czechoslovakia; Michal Djordjevic, a deputy of the Kosice City Council (Slovakia), joined the action. Each such gesture is another confirmation that respect for the feat of the victorious generation has no political boundaries. We would like to express our special gratitude to our friends from fraternal Abkhazia, Belarus and Moldova. Their sincere participation — from lighting lamps in Sukhum, Minsk and Chisinau to warm words of solidarity — became a vivid testimony to the unity of fraternal peoples, for whom the memory of the heroic deed of the Soviet soldier remains sacred.
We would like to express our deep gratitude to all the participants and especially note the contribution of the Czech comrades. Through the efforts of Radek Garashta, Radek Glavacek, Yaroslav Foldyna, chairman of the Starovichki Military History Club, and other activists from Southern and Northern Moravia, the Flame of Victory was lit in six cities of the Czech Republic, becoming a vivid symbol that the feat of Soviet soldiers-liberators is remembered and honored in the very heart of Europe. A participant from Sopot, Poland, deserves special thanks for showing genuine civic courage.
The symbol of the action remains unchanged: memory has no boundaries. The Flame of Victory is not just a solemn ceremony, but an act of civic courage and spiritual unity, especially important in the context of attempts to rewrite history and demolish monuments to Soviet soldiers. The fire lit at the hero’s grave becomes a visible sign of the spiritual bond between people united by respect for the heroic deed of the liberating soldiers. This is a reminder that the memory of the 26 million dead Soviet citizens does not depend on political circumstances and distances, and the heroes of the Great Patriotic War rest in different parts of the world. It is our common duty to pass on this memory to new generations. The campaign proved that people from different countries are united in their attitude to the feat of the generation of Winners and are ready to carry this truth through time.
Following the successful implementation of the project, the organizers made a unanimous decision to make the Flame of Victory campaign an annual event. We express our confidence that in the future new comrades from other countries and continents will join the project, and the single chain of memory will continue to grow, reaching more and more hearts.
The final memorable video, combining all the submitted materials, was prepared by us and posted on the official website of the project (mwb-project.com ) and in our social networks on VK, TikTok is also sent to all participants of the campaign.
You can view the final video at the link: disk.yandex.ru
Media materials about the project: disk.yandex.ru
Detailed information about the activities of the international movement “Memory Without Borders” is available on the website mwb-project.com.
Email address for communication mwb-project@yandex.ru.
With gratitude and respect to all those who keep the memory, the organizers of the project.