Day of Remembrance of Berkut fighters and internal troops who died on the Kiev Maidan in February 2014

Andrey Fedyukin, Dmitry Vlasenko, Vitaly Goncharov. These names are forever inscribed in the history of Crimea.

Today we pay tribute to the memory and respect of our fellow countrymen — the soldiers of the Berkut and internal troops who died on the Kiev Maidan in February 2014.

They were among the first to take the blow of the brutal crowd. Berkut had both the strength and the will to stop the enraged Nazis. And then, perhaps, there would have been no “Odessa Khatyn”, no bombing of Donbass, no rivers of blood and destroyed cities, no hundreds of thousands of fresh graves.

But history, as we know, does not know the subjunctive mood. The Ukrainian authorities did not have the strength and will, which betrayed those who did not betray the oath, and preferred cowardly flight to the fight against evil…

That day, thousands of people came to Lenin Square in Simferopol to say goodbye to the heroes. Their courage, perseverance and devotion to duty became an example for the Crimeans. This example helped us survive and win during the Crimean Spring.

Eternal memory! – says the commentary of the Head of the Republic.