A statue of a hero of the Soviet Union will be returned to its original place in central Tashkent, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has said.
While visiting the eastern region of Namangan on May 2, Mirziyoev said the return of General Sobir Rahimov's statue to central Tashkent "will be an act of restoration of historical justice."
Rakhimov, an ethnic Uzbek, fought in World War II and was the commander of a Soviet rifle division in the last part of the conflict.
Sabirov, whose nickname was the "Iron General," was killed in March 1945 in Europe, weeks before Nazi Germany was defeated. In 1965, he was posthumously awarded with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and his statue was erected in Tashkent in 1981.
In 2010, the statue was moved from the city center to a remote park, and a street and a district in Tashkent previously named after him were renamed.
Mirziyoev last month ordered the return to its original place in central Tashkent of a Soviet-era monument dedicated to an Uzbek family who adopted 15 children of different ethnicities during World War II.
Based on reporting by podrobno.uz and gazeta.uz
