Before the ceremony, Grachya Pogosyan got acquainted with the Marshal’s daughter Irina Vladimirovna and told her about his friendly relations with her father, He remembered that they met and talked, and Vladimir Mikhailovich supported his initiatives more than once. In her tern, Irina Mikhalkina recalled how warmly her family treated Stepan Mikoyan and the entire Armenian nation in the person of him.

   The ceremony of unveiling the memorial plaque to Marshal Mikhalkin took place in the yard of the Academy, next to the front door. Among the participants were the key personnel and veterans of Rocket Troops and Artillery Branch of the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation, military forces of the state members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, representatives of ‘Megapyr’, St. Petersburg’s Club of  Veterans – Generals and Admirals, and representatives of other veterans’ organizations.

    Irina Mikhalkina, Marshal’s daughter, and the veterans who personally knew the military commander were honored to unveil the memorial plaque.

     The project to install the memorial plaque in Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy which Vladimir Mikhalkin graduated from in 1962 was initiated and funded by the Grachya Pogosyan Charitable Foundation.

     Speaking at the ceremony, President of the Foundation Grachya Pogosyan noted, “I’ve kept alive the memory of a lot of heroes and events of the Great Patriotic War and every time I was happy and proud for the work done. Today I feel pain and bitterness because of a great loss of Marshal Vladimir Mikhailovich Mikhalkin. I met that wonderful person, who had an ability to treat people, several times. He treated me as a member of the family and always complimented my nation for deep knowledge and unique culture. Vladimir Mikhailovich was the example of an officer, man of piety. His death is our grievous loss.”

      It is the second memorial plaque that has been installed in the Academy on the initiative of the philanthropist. Two years ago he provided installation of the memorial to another graduate – an artist and General of the XIX century Nikolay Yaroshenko.

Grachya Pogosyan finished his remarks by thanking the Head of Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy Sergey Anatolyevich Bakaneev for the honour and trust to present the Academy with the memorial plaque to Vladimir Mikhailovich Mikhalkin.