🗓 Fyodor Poletayev was born in the village of Katino in the Ryazan Region on May 14, 1909. During the Great Patriotic War, he fought in the Battle of Moscow alongside the 28th Guards Artillery Regiment. In the summer of 1942, he was wounded, surrounded by enemy soldiers and taken prisoner. He was then transported to concentration camps: Vyazma, Berdichev and Mielec in Poland. Despite several attempts, he was not able to escape. Poletayev was caught while trying to escape from a camp in Slavonski Brod and was sent to a forced labour camp in Italy. There, Italian Communists helped him escape and Poletayev joined the Orestes partisan unit.

⚔️ Starting in 1944, Fyodor Poletayev fought against the German occupiers and took part in multiple combat operations. The Germans decided to carry out a punitive operation in Liguria, where his guerilla unit was stationed. Members of the Waffen SS Turkestan Legion spearheaded the attack.

On February 2, 1945, a battle erupted in Lighting Valley. The partisans defeated the punitive unit, and the Nazis began to surrender. To crush their resistance, Poletayev ordered his men to attack, but he was shot by an SS soldier at the last moment. The partisans completely routed the invaders and took some of them prisoner. Poletayev was mortally wounded and later buried him with full military honours in the small village of Rocchetta.

🎖 After the war, Poletayev, a national hero of the Italian Republic, was reinterred in the old Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa. On May 25, 1947, a Soviet diplomat presented Poletayev's family with the Gold Medal for Military Valour and the Bronze Star of the Garibaldi Partisan Brigade Fighter with the name “Fiedar Alexander Poetan” engraved on it.

Soviet writer Sergey Smirnov made efforts to clarify the famous partisan’s biography. He confirmed that the award was intended for Poletayev. In December 1962, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Fyodor Poletayev

#FacesOfVictory

🎙 Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (Moscow, May 8, 2024)

• Victory Day
• BRICS events
• The Ukrainian crisis
• Situation in Moldova
• Aggressive remarks by the French President
• Situation in the Middle East


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#BRICS

Russia’s chairmanship of BRICS is picking up speed. Over 40 events across three main cooperation areas have already taken place, covering politics and security, the economy and finance, as well as cultural and humanitarian exchanges.

#Ukraine

Just a few days ago EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell admitted clearly once again that the Ukrainian conflict had had a quick peaceful solution since the very beginning, but he personally and on behalf of the European Union did not want the combat to cease. We have talked about this many times (citing Mr Borrell and other EU officials) pointing to the EU’s long-term investments in financing arms supplies to Ukraine, with which they expect to prolong the armed confrontation for at least several more years (in their own words).

This confirms the terrible reality: ordinary Ukrainians are just a tool that Vladimir Zelensky "sold" to the EU members in the name of his own enrichment and immorality, which is used to settle the West’s geopolitical scores with Russia.

#France #NATO #EU

We noted the recent aggressive remarks from the French leadership, which seem to be increasingly frequent. <…> It is noteworthy that the belligerent stance of the occupant of the Elysee Palace is not only met with disapproval among many EU and NATO allies but, crucially, among the majority of French citizens, too.