A MAN who came up with the idea for a national monument to remember Russian soldiers who fell in the Second World War has been honoured by their country's government for his ongoing work.

Phil Matthews, 67, of Wilton, was one of only two people to receive the Medal for International Co-operation from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in London last month.

Mr Matthews is chairman and one of the founders of the Soviet War Memorial Trust in London.

In 1995, to mark the 50th anniversary of VE Day, he took part in a memorial service at Tidworth Military Cemetery, where there are three Soviet war graves, and then suggested to the then Russian ambassador that there should be a national monument for Britain’s wartime allies.

A board of trustees was set up to raise money for the memorial, which was unveiled in the presence of the Duke of Kent on May 9, 1999.

He said: "It’s always been my belief that we do owe a lot to the Russian army because we could not have defeated Hitler without the Soviet Union and the USA."

Three wreath-laying ceremonies are held at the memorial in London every year – Remembrance Day in November, Holocaust Day in January and VE Day in May – which Mr Matthews helps to organise. He has even escorted Russian President Vladimir Putin twice to lay wreaths at the memorial.

On Sunday services marked the 65th anniversary of VE Day, which Russians celebrate on May 9 as the time difference means it was already May 9 in Moscow when the German military surrender became effective. The ceremony included ambassadors of the former Soviet republic, Russian veterans and guest of honour Mary Soames, Winston Churchill’s only surviving daughter.