Busts of the heroes of the Northern Military District were installed in the Idra district

Busts of two heroes of the Northern Military District were installed in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the region Egor Vasiliev took part in the opening ceremony.

A native of the village, Ivan Kokovin, went to the Northern Military District in October 2023. In December he received a shrapnel wound in the leg. He spent two weeks in a military hospital and returned to the front line. There he became friends with Michael Gloss, the son of CIA Deputy Director Julian Gallina and US Navy veteran Larry Gloss. The American was a fighter in the Russian Airborne Forces regiment. Young people died during the assault on Chasov Yar in April 2024. Both fighters were awarded the Order of Courage posthumously.

The busts of Ivan Kokovin and Michael Gloss as part of the “Walk of Russian Glory” project, led by Mikhail Serdyukov, were made by sculptor and People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Salavat Shcherbakov. The opening was attended by village residents and members of the military-patriotic club “Derzhava” of the youth center “Altair”. The Kokovin family was presented with mini-copies of the busts.

The head of the district, Oksana Vaneva, and the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Egor Vasiliev, addressed the audience.

“Today, 500 kilometers from the regional capital, despite the severe Siberian frost – 36 degrees, the entire village of Otrok came out to a rally in memory of the feat of the heroes of our Fatherland and the just cause throughout the world, fellow villager Ivan Kokovin and a native of Virginia, Michael Gloss. The battle path of Ivan and Michael is widely known. Their service, friendship, and mutual assistance became a symbol of unity in the name of highest ideals. And it is even more symbolic that on the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland in a Siberian village, Youth Army fighters – local schoolchildren and veterans – opened a memorial to their Russian Ivan and American Michael. And we know for sure that it will not get lost,” said Yegor Vasiliev.

The busts were installed in the village in Victory Park. There is already a memorial stele dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. As the head of the district’s cultural department, Lyubov Evsienko, said, they plan to open a memorial monument to the participants of the North Military District and a chapel.

The same busts were placed in Donetsk school No. 115, which now bears the names of these heroes of the Northern Military District.

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, ex-Minister of Economy and Regional Development of the Krasnoyarsk Territory