The Ashgabat cinema hosted a screening of the film ‘In August of 1944,’ organised by the Russian and Belarusian embassies in Turkmenistan, according to the news website Turkmenportal.

The screening was timed to coincide with the Day of Remembrance and Mourning, observed on 22 June, the anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War.

Russian Ambassador to Turkmenistan Ivan Volynkin recalled the heroic deeds of Soviet soldiers and stressed the importance of preserving historical truth. Belarusian Ambassador to Turkmenistan Stanislav Chepurnoy called for resistance to the distortion of history and emphasised our responsibility to future generations.

The film, directed by Mikhail Ptaschuk and based on the novel by Vladimir Bogomolov, is dedicated to the work of SMERSH fighters in the final months of the war and has become a symbol of their heroism.