Donbass pays the last tribute to 'Givi' - DONi Photos & Video
Friday, February 10, 2017 - 15:53
On Friday, February 10, the Donetsk People's Republic was bidding farewell to the Hero of the DPR, Commander of the separate assault battalion Somali, Colonel Mikhail Tolstykh.
The farewell ceremony was taking place in the hall of the capital's Donbass Opera. Despite bad frost and wind, tens of thousands of Donetsk residents, DPR citizens from all the Republic's cities, LPR residents, and guests from the Russian Federation came to bid final farewell to the Hero of the Republic. In total, the procession brought together more than 50 thousand people. The queue of people with flowers lined up across the whole central district of the capital of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The Head of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko was one of the first to attend the ceremony. The Head of State paid the tribute to the memory of his friend, fellow soldier, comrade-in-arms.
The flow of people to the Hero's coffin didn't run shot for over two hours. But still not all the willing persons could approach and pay their tribute to the memory of the perished Commander.
The farewell ceremony being over, the coffin was solemnly taken out to the square in front of the theatre and set on a cannon gun carriage by a military tradition.
Colonel Tolstykh went off on a final journey…
Mikhail "Givi" Tolstykh was buried at the cemetery near the Donetsk sea. He will be resting in peace next to his friend and comrade-in-arms Arsen "Motorola" Pavlov, who was as well killed meanly by Ukrainian terrorists.
It's worth reminding that Tolstykh perished early in the morning on February 8. The explosion was caused by a man-portable rocket-launcher Shmel. According to preliminary data of the DPR Operational Command, the murder was committed by intelligence agencies of Ukraine.
Reference data: Mikhail Tolstykh (call-name "Givi") was born in Ilovaisk in 1980. He entered the DPR defenders' ranks from the very outset of the conflict. Since May, 2014 he participated in battles for Slavyansk, then for Ilovaisk, since September – for the Donetsk airport. The Hero of the DPR, the holder of two St George's Crosses, he was awarded by the medal "For Defense of Slavyansk", achieved the rank of the Colonel of the Republic's Armed Forces. Tolstykh's life was attempted repeatedly, he was wounded in battles several times.
Official translation by DONi News Agency
Video: DONi Correspondent Christelle Neant
Pictures: DONi Correspondent Jarmo Ekman
