Yury Trutnev and Vice Premier of China’s State Council Zhang Guoqing
Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev invited Vice Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Zhang Guoqing and other Chinese colleagues to attend celebrations of the 80th anniversary of victory over militarist Japan, scheduled to be held on Shumshu Island in September.
“Acting on instructions from President Vladimir Putin, we are creating a memorial complex on Shumshu Island dedicated to the Kuril landing operation. Shumshu is an island of the Kuril Islands archipelago where World War II actually ended. Our troops, who routed the overwhelming forces of the Kwantung Army, acted heroically, plunging into water in full battle uniform and attacking Japanese tanks all the way to the heights where the enemy’s firing positions were located. If you consider it interesting to attend these celebrations and the unveiling of a memorial complex, we will coordinate our activities with your embassy,” Yury Trutnev stated.
As per the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev, a task force visited the island in the middle of May to monitor the implementation of President Putin’s instructions on the celebrations of the 80th of victory over military Japan and the end of WWII. The task force included representatives of the Presidential Executive Office, the representative office of the Far East, the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, and the Ministry of Culture. They assessed the site’s readiness for the summer expedition and for creating an open air memorial on the island.
The first stage of the project to create a military and history memorial was timed for the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory and the defeat of militarist Japan. The complex is dedicated to the landing operation on the Kuril Islands and is being created on President Putin’s instructions. Yury Trutnev is overseeing the project. The task force monitoring the process is led by Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko and Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects Sergei Novikov.
“The team of the Centre for Contemporary History is working together with the Russian Military Historical Society to prepare for the project to restore and maintain military equipment on Shumshu, which will be implemented this summer. We consider it a matter of principle to conserve the tanks in their present state and current location. We will take particular care of their current outlook. There are also engineering tasks related to topography, aerial survey of the island and the examination of historical information. We plan to complete an interactive map of the island by August. It will be based on the materials from archives and other historical sources, as well as information we acquire in the process of field work there,” Director of the Centre for Contemporary History Ivan Anokhin, an engineer-surveyor by profession.
The planned events will be held on Shumshu in the summer of 2025 and will be dedicated to the landing operation on the Kuril Islands. Plans include a search operation, an interment ceremony for the remains of Soviet servicemen found on the island, a Height 171 national extreme cross-country race and triathlon (swimming plus bicycle and cross-country race), backpacking tours for the More than Travel youth movement, the re-enactment of the Battle of Shumshu, and a series of concerts, including in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
The key events of the unveiling of the memorial complex and the interment ceremony will be held on 18 August. The re-enactment of the Battle of Shumshu, to be held the same day, will involve about 150 people from a score of Russian regions and friendly countries.
The Russian Military Historical Society has been instructed by the Culture Ministry to organise activities within the ministry’s purview in accordance with the President’s executive order on the creation of a memorial complex in 2025 and to formulate the island’s development strategy until 2030. There are several strategic tasks related to the facilities which we will restore this year. The Nevsky Batalist studio is responsible for creating the entrance zone, which will symbolise the Kuril landing operation. We are looking for the site where the structure will be erected. Our tasks also include the improvement of all cultural heritage sites on the island, such as graves, a mass grave, the grave of two Heroes of the Soviet Union, and a pillbox. Another priority is to provide maintenance services for the military equipment that remained on the island after the Great Patriotic War. We plan to build roads and trails between these military items. Another task is to renovate the museum of the North Kuril landing operation in Severo-Kurilsk,” Executive Director of the Museum of Military History of the Russian Military Historical Society Yelena Sinitsyna stated.
During the working trip to Shumshu, the task force inspected the sites where the military historical complex commemorating the participants of the Kuril landing operation will be created and a themed installation and captured tanks will be placed in open air. The participants discussed the erection of a module structure for demonstrating artefacts and interring the bodies of Red Army and Navy servicemen found during search expeditions. They also assessed the sites’ readiness for hosting summer camps for the search expedition, museum, Emergency Ministry and medical staff, as well as youth travel groups. Another issue they discussed was the creation of a network of roads and trails connecting the memorial sites, as well as cultural and educational trails.
A transport scheme for delivering cargo and equipment to Shumshu has been prepared by the government of the Sakhalin Region together with the government of the Kamchatka Territory and the Defence Ministry of Russia. It provides for delivering them by seagoing vessels to Severo-Kurilsk and by roll-on/roll-off boats from it to Shumshu, which has no coastal engineering facilities. Overall, 30 units of equipment have been delivered to the island since late March.
