PM Xavier Bettel lays a wreath at the Tambov Memorial;
Credit: ME
Today, on 18 October 2017, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Étienne Schneider visited Tambov in Russia in honour of Luxembourg conscripts who died there in captivity.
As part of their visit abroad, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister paid their respects at the Tambov Monument to the former Luxembourg conscripts imprisoned in Tambov and Kirsanov. On this occasion, a wreath laying ceremony took place in memory of those conscripts who died in captivity.
In addition, Xavier Bettel and Étienne Schneider met the governor of Tambov, Alexandre Nikitin, for a working lunch in the context of their visit to the Russian city. The Prime Minister expressed his emotion by saying that "the name Tambov is engraved in the collective memory of all Luxembourgers and my fellow citizens regularly honour our dead victims of Nazi crimes.”
During his trip to Russia, the Prime Minister also participated in the signing of a contract with the military archives of Russia.
The Prime Minister also stressed the importance of relations between Luxembourg and the Tambov region, pointing out that scholarships for Russian students under the exchange programs between Luxembourg and Russia would be revised. Finally, PM Bettel invited the governor to present the commercial and economic opportunities of Tambov in Luxembourg.
