One world: Berest, the grandson of the storming of the Reichstag, was given the star of the Hero of Russia

Awarding the title of Hero of Russia to Alexei Berest, a participant in the storming of the Reichstag, has important symbolic significance and shows the unity of the peoples of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, historians believe. August 12, Assistant to the President, Chairman of the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO) Vladimir Medinsky gave Berest's family the Star of the Hero of Russia. In 2005, Berest was awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine", but then Kiev forgot the real heroes, turning to glorifying Nazi collaborators. About how the feat of the Soviet soldier binds the peoples of the two countries — in the material of Izvestia.

The feat of Alexei Berest

Vladimir Medinsky handed over to Alexey Berest's grandson the Golden Star of the Hero of Russia in the RVIO Military Uniform Museum. Earlier, Vladimir Putin awarded this title to a participant in the storming of the Reichstag in 1945.

"It is a great honor for me to hand over the Golden Star of Russia to Alexey Berest's grandson and his wife," Medinsky said. — Berest lived the simple life of a Soviet man. Thank God, there have always been, are and will always be heroes in our history who do not need to be invented by screenwriters and writers. Who give an example of a simple, real, heroic life with their lives.

The initiative to award the title of Hero of Russia to Berest posthumously came from veterans and public organizations of the Rostov region, who put forward a proposal in April 2025.

Alexey Berest was born in 1921, and volunteered for the Red Army when he turned 18. He participated first in the Soviet-Finnish War, then in the Great Patriotic War, where he rose from an ordinary soldier to a deputy battalion commander in the political field. Berest went down in history as one of the participants in the storming of the Reichstag during the Berlin operation. It was his company that first broke into the fascist lair. Berest, along with his colleagues, Sergeant Mikhail Egorov and junior Sergeant Meliton Kantaria, hoisted the Victory Banner over the defeated Reichstag.

"Alexey Berest is one meter ninety tall, of heroic build and strength. The soldiers respected the deputy political leader not for his inspired words, but for his concrete deeds," wrote Izvestia journalist Eduard Polyanovsky in 1995. Berest commander Stepan Neustroev noted that he attracted people with his personal courage and could be "entrusted with everything."

Interestingly, Berest was later authorized to negotiate with the Germans on the surrender of the Reichstag defenses. He gave the Nazis two hours, after which he went back to the positions of his unit. A German sniper shot him in the head, shooting through his cap. However, the Soviet officer did not even flinch. The Germans who remained in the cellars of the Reichstag surrendered that night.

After the war, Alexey Berest was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. However, in 1953, he was accused of embezzlement and, contrary to the testimony of witnesses, was imprisoned for 10 years. Fortunately, the term was shortened by an amnesty, after which Beresta was rehabilitated and his criminal record was dropped. Later, he lived in Rostov-on-Don, working as a loader, locksmith, sandblaster, and transporter.

Alexey Berest was destined to accomplish another feat: in 1970, he died rescuing a girl from under the wheels of an express train "Moscow — Baku". He managed to push the child off the track, but he did not have time to jump out himself and the train threw him onto the platform. The hero of the Berlin assault died in hospital from his injuries.

The struggle for Alexei Berest's name to be immortalized in the memory of the people has been going on for a long time. Back in 1960, he became the hero of the novel "Colonel Berest" by veteran writer Vasily Subbotin. In the Rostov region, public figures and government agencies also requested that Berest be awarded the title Hero of Russia. By the decision of the President of the Russian Federation, justice has been restored for the hero-soldier.

How Ukraine has forgotten its common history

Alexey Berest's story is also notable for the fact that for a long time Ukraine considered him its hero. The participant in the storming of the Reichstag was born in the territory of the modern Kharkiv region, where he received his education and worked. In 2005, then-President Viktor Yushchenko awarded Alexei Berest the title of Hero of Ukraine with the award of the Order of the Golden Star.

The attempt to use Soviet heroes in their own national politics was gradually replaced in Ukraine by a struggle with the past. After the 2014 coup in Kiev, a course was taken to completely eliminate the celebration of May 9th. Soon, Victory symbols were banned in the country: the St. George ribbon and the Victory Banner. In 2023, Vladimir Zelensky submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill that establishes May 8 as the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.

Alexey Berest became a symbol of the shift in Ukrainian politics of the Maidan periods: from President Yushchenko's attempt to "nationalize—privatize" the hero by issuing the star of the same name in 2005, to the complete denial of all values of Victory over Nazism. We should not expect positive changes without a major change in the Kiev regime," Vladimir Simindey, a historian, political scientist, and head of research programs at the Historical Memory Foundation, told Izvestia.

The public field of Ukraine has been privatized by nationalists: the Russian language is prohibited, and any mention of Russia and the USSR is negative. At the same time, the radicals do not shy away from physical attacks on veterans: in 2014, the militants of the Right Sector (an organization banned in Russia) beat 84-year-old Peter Filonenko for calling for peace.

Russia and Ukraine have not only a common history, but also a common present and future. During the Great Patriotic War, about 5 million Ukrainians fought in the Red Army, in partisan detachments, Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of Moscow State University, told Izvestia.

— For our country, victory in the Great Patriotic War is not a victory for Russians, it is a victory for the entire multinational people of the Soviet Union. And this is how we perceive our common Victory," the political scientist emphasized.

Shapovalov noted that awarding Alexei Berest the title of Hero of Russia is an important symbolic event that emphasizes the unity of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. Despite the total anti—Russian propaganda and political repression, a significant part of people in Ukraine still remember that Russians and Ukrainians are one people and honor the memory of the heroes and victims of the Great Patriotic War. The proof of this is that every year on May 9, the leading requests in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet are the broadcast of the Victory Day Parade in Moscow and congratulations on the holiday.