Members of the United Russia party, as part of the special project “Moya Pobeda” will renovate the old cemetery in the capital of the republic. Many veterans of the Front are buried there, and there is nobody to take care of their graves once their relatives die. The cemetery, which is in the center of the city, is showing signs of neglect. Here rests the dust of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Adyg-Tulush Baldanovich Kechil-ool, the legendary commander of Tuvan cavalry squadron, who liberated towns and villages of the Ukraine.
“It is very good that the “Moya Pobeda” action is taking place”, says the Front veteran’s sister, 92-year-old Barynmaa Lopsanovna Mongush. – And you will clean up and renovate the burial places. My brother’s memorial does not even have the Hero’s Star. I have one more request. He always used to tell me that we are from the Adyg-Tulush (Bear) clan, and that this name should be on all our documents. That means the gravestone, too.”
There is a special account for the renovation of the cemetery. Already more than 800 thousand rubles have been deposited. “The cemetery will be enclosed by fence, as it should be, and it won’t be a walk-through place as it is now,- says Eres Sonam, the leader of the United Russia committee. – The money for the old cemetery are coming in from various organizations and from private individuals.”
The work is made more complicated by the fact that the old cemetery administrative documents from the mayor’s office have not been preserved. Many of the graves have no information about the decedents. United Russia will have to compile lists anew, de facto performing a complete inventory of the burials, working with old-timers and in the archives.
One of the first pilots of the republic, Chimit Chili, is also buried there, as well as the minister of MVD of Tuva, Nikolai Tovaryshchtai, one of the participants in sending echelons of presents from Tuva to the Front.
Photos: Adyg-Tulush Kechil-ool’s gravestone; Barynmaa Lopsanovna Mongush, sister of the legendary commander; grave of Chimit Chili, one of the first Tuvan pilots.