EDINBURGH, November 6 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst — Scottish veterans of the Arctic convoys were awarded on Thursday the Medal of Ushakov by Russian Consul General in Edinburgh.
"I have 30 years' experience in diplomacy having started in 1982. This is one of the moments I am most proud of," Andrei Pritsepov told RIA Novosti.
"This is the unpaid moral debt that we owe to the veterans. I would make everything possible to make them feel that they are needed. That they should tell their stories," Pritsepov added.
The Medal of Ushakov is a state military award of the Russian Federation named after the Russian Empire's acclaimed Navy Commander Fyodor Ushakov.
Among those attending to receive their medal was 98-year-old Eddie Campbell, who had been a stoker on HMS Gossamer, a Royal Navy minesweeper, and had sailed on the first Russian bound convoy, PQ1, to Arkhangelsk in October 1941. The vessel was later based in Murmansk and acted in an anti-submarine role until it was sunk on the 24th June 1942 with the loss of 23 men.
"There were two bangs and I looked round and the two lads behind me were gone," Campbell told RIA Novosti. "I said to myself I need to get out and when I went up on deck the ship was going over and it sank in just seven minutes."
Royal Naval Commander for Scotland and Northern Ireland Captain Chris Smith told RIA Novosti the ceremony was important and worthy of commemoration.
"This ceremony is really important. For all that politicians and current events may not allow us to be as close as clearly we once were. I think our partnership in the war is worth commemorating," Smith said.
"My experience of talking to veterans is that there is no doubt that bringing them together at these focal points really allows them to remember their comrades and brings it home and alive to them," Smith added.
Consul General Pritsepov concluded that the memory of the sacrifice and courage of those who took part in the Arctic Convoys during WWII is one of the "strongest bonds" between Scotland and Russia.
In World War, the Arctic convoys carried Anglo-American war supplies to the USSR through the Arctic Ocean.
