On the International Day of Peacekeepers, Kinshasa (capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) hosted the official unveiling ceremony of the memorial tablet honoring major Vyacheslav Budarin, the Russian military observer who was killed during a peacekeeping mission in the Congo on 26 April 2003.

The memorial tablet was unveiled on the premises of the Russian Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Embassy also hosted the ceremony opened by A.I. Klimenko, the Russian Ambassador to the Congo.

The ceremony was attended by the widow and son of the deceased officer, employees of the Russian Embassy in the Congo, Russian military observers, UN mission representatives, METROPOL representatives, as well as top officials of the UN peace mission in the Congo, represented by senior officers from Great Britain, France, India, Tunisia and Ghana.
A photo exhibition was arranged in the Russian Embassy on that day, devoted to the life and work of the deceased officer, as well as Russian UN military observers engaged in peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other hot spots around the world.

The trip of the widow and son of Vyacheslav Budarin to the Congo was sponsored by METROPOL Group.

Reference
The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers has been held on 29 May every year since 2003. It was instituted by the UN General Assembly in 2002. It was proposed to honor the memory of those killed and those who served and serve in the ranks of the UN Peacekeeping Force (known as “blue berets” and “blue helmets”), which was established in 1948 according to the UN Charter.