The Council of Ministers of the autonomous Republic of Crimea (part of Ukraine) reported, the events would begin with flowers being laid at the obelisk in honor of V.M. Dolgorukov in Simferopol, the autonomy's capital. A memorial plaque will be unveiled at a former hospital in Simferopol. A rally and requiem will be held at the Simferopol common graveyard, and the remains of the soldiers who fought in the Crimean War will be buried. An unveiling of a monument to the hussars of the Kievan regiment has been planned in the Balaklava Valley. Later in the day, the Crimean leaders will visit the site of the Battle of Alma.
On Friday, monuments to the victims of the Crimean War will be unveiled in Sevastopol and representatives of six countries - Britain, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and France - will attend the ceremony. The representatives will also witness flowers being laid at the Memorial to the Fallen Heroes, which opened in 1994.
The press service reported that Prince Michael of Kent, Admiral Sir Alan West, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff would represent Britain, Naval Forces Commander Ozden Ornek would represent Turkey, and the official spokesman for the head of the General Staff of the French Armed Forces Alain Denville would represent France.
In the Crimean War (1853-1856), Russia fought Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia.
The signing of the Treaty of Paris (1856) ended the war. Under the treaty, Russia was not allowed to have a navy and naval bases on the Black Sea. The treaty also required Russia to cede the southern part of Bessarabia to Turkey, pledge not to build fortifications on the Aland Isles (about 6,500 granite isles and skerries in the Baltic Sea near the entrance to the Bothnic Bay) and recognize Turkey's nominal rule of Moldavia, Valachia and Serbia.
The Russia's heroic defense of Sevastopol, which lasted 349 days, was the central episode of the Crimean War. According to historians' estimates, during the war, Russia's lost 100,000 people while the other states lost 350,000 people.
