Joint funerals for French and Russian soldiers, more than 200 years after Napoleon's campaign
The eight coffins containing the remains of Napoleonic grunts and Tsarist soldiers during the burial ceremony in the town of Viazma, in western Russia, on February 13, 2021. AFP - DIMITAR DILKOFF
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The year of the bicentenary of Napoleon's death is a way to cultivate the existing links between Paris and Moscow at a time when tensions between Russia and the European Union are at their highest.
The burial of the remains of Russian and French soldiers who fell during the retreat from Russia was, this Saturday, February 13, a rare moment of Franco-Russian unity.
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With our correspondent in Moscow,
Jean-Didier Revoin
One hundred and twenty-six remains distributed in eight coffins were buried with honors this Saturday, February 13 afternoon in Viazma, a city located 230 kilometers west of Moscow.
In the presence of the descendants of the great Russian and French military leaders of the time, under the snow and -15 ° C, the coffins were buried to the sound of a salvo of cannons.
According to historians, these soldiers fell on the sidelines or during the Battle of Viazma, on November 3, 1812, during the retreat that ended in the horror of crossing the Berezina river.
The bodies were discovered in a mass grave between Smolensk and Moscow in 2019 by a team of Franco-Russian archaeologists.
Brotherhood between fighters from another time
The discovery of metal buttons on uniforms established that some of the deceased belonged to the 30th and 55th Line Infantry Regiments and the 24th Light Infantry Regiment of Napoleon's Army.
This ceremony, placed under the sign of brotherhood between fighters from another era, will have marked a rather rare sign of unity at a time when
relations between Moscow and the West
are gradually deteriorating, due in particular to the condemnation of the opponent Alexeï Navalny.
As a reminder, the Russian campaign had killed several hundred thousand people.
► Also listen: EU-Russia: "three Russian diplomats expelled in response to the dismissal of European diplomats"
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