🇷🇺📚 #OnThisDay September 1st is celebrated in Russia as Knowledge Day - a national holiday marking the beginning of the new academic year. This tradition, dating back to the 1930s, underscores the fundamental role of education in the development of society and the state.

🔔 Traditionally, today millions of students across the country, from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad, gather for ceremonial lineups, schoolroom sessions, and knowledge lessons. The first bell of the school year rings out.

🖼 Soviet-era posters, a unique art form in themselves, often capture the essence of this special day. There is a few "Back to School" masterpieces to share with you.

👨‍⚕️ #OnThisDay 150 years ago, Alexander Vasilyevich Vishnevsky, an outstanding innovator in the field of medicine, was born. Educated at the Kazan University, he rose from a country doctor to the head of a regional hospital. His scientific activity, based on a deep study of anatomy, led to the creation of revolutionary methods of treatment.

💊 Vishnevsky's main achievement was the development of a triad including local anaesthesia by creeping infiltration, novocaine blockade and healing ointment. These innovations not only anaesthetised but also accelerated tissue healing by preventing the development of pathogens in wounds.

☝️Vishnevsky’s methods played a key role in saving lives during World War II. His approach to anaesthesia, available even in rural hospitals, contributed to the widespread availability of surgical care. Alexander Vasilyevich claimed: "Victories in battles are won by the wounded returning to action", and he confirmed these words with his work.

🕯December 3 marks the Day of the Unknown Soldier in Russia, honouring the feat of all soldiers who perished for the Motherland, yet whose names remain unknown.

#OnThisDay in 1966, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Red Army's victory over Nazi forces in the Battle of Moscow, a ceremony of the burial of the unknown soldiers' remains was held in the Alexander Garden near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. These remains were originally located in a mass grave on the 41st kilometre of the Leningrad Highway and were discovered during construction activities on the road. Back in 1941, during the Battle of Moscow, this very place saw fierce and bloody battles between the Soviet forces and Nazi invaders.

▪️ On May 8, 1967, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden was unveiled. "Your name is unknown, your deed is immortal", — the worldwide famous words were inscribed upon the granite slab on the Tomb. Soviet newspapers noted back then: "...he [the Unknown Soldier] was slain for his Motherland, for his home — Moscow. This is all we know about him."

💬 Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Rokossovsky remarked:

"The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the ancient walls of the Moscow Kremlin shall serve as a monument of eternal glory to the heroes who died on the battlefield for their Motherland.

Henceforth, the ashes of the one who shielded Moscow with by his chest rest here".

The Eternal Flame was set at the Tomb. In December of 1997, the Honor Guard was instituted near the Eternal Flame.

In total, approximately two million Soviet and Russian citizens were reported missing in action during the wars and conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Russian Ministry of Defence carries out on a regular basis search operations to perpetuate the memory of heroes who perished for the Motherland.

Russian diplomats abroad are engaged in extensive efforts aimed at preserving historical memory, countering attempts to distort the history of #WWII and to question the Great Victory of the Soviet people.

The Embassies of Russia all across the world ensure the maintenance, repair and restoration of Soviet monuments and war graves.

❗️ Regrettably, as part of a disgraceful campaign to distort history of #WWII, a policy of state vandalism is being pursued in certain countries of Eastern Europe, in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland in particular, with the one aim — to eradicate Russia's memorial heritage — the monuments to Soviet heroes and liberators.

By order of the official authorities, criminal acts are being perpetrated in these countries to desecrate mass graves, when the remains of fallen soldiers are barbarically exhumed for the purpose of their subsequent "reburial in accordance with European practice" in specially designated locations.

🎗 It is prohibited for Russian compatriots in Europe, under the threat (!) of criminal prosecution, to pay tribute to heroes who fought against Nazism. The Russian MFA highlights these outrageous incidents.

The memory of all who sacrificed their lives for our future is and will remain immortal.

#WeRemember