In February 2022, an amazing journey of oak seedlings from Spain to Russia began. Employees of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance from Moscow, Moscow and Tula regions, as well as scientists from the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "VNIIKR" took part in the inspection of oak seedlings grown in a nursery in the Spanish city of Guernica. These oaks, like messengers from a foreign land, were preparing for an important purpose.
The association "Sever - Children of the USSR War", in which Victoria Iglesias Martinez and Asucena Fernandez Fernandez actively participate, decided to carry out an action to plant several Spanish oak trees (Quercus robur) near the memorials related to the Great Patriotic War in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Victoria and Asucena, whose lives witnessed the connection between Russia and Spain, were evacuated to the USSR from Spain during the civil war. Their parents fought against the Franco dictatorship, and the Spaniards fought side by side with Soviet soldiers against fascist Germany. In honor of the courage of Spanish soldiers, it was decided to plant oak seedlings from Guernica on Russian soil as a symbol of strength, democracy, and spirit of resistance.
However, due to export restrictions, the transportation of seedlings became significantly more difficult, and only in March 2025, the trees were delivered to Russia.
On the eve of Victory Day, these symbols of friendship and memory were solemnly planted on the School Alley of the Summer Garden and Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg, in the town of Pushkino in Leningrad Region, and in Karelia.
It is worth reminding that on April 26, 1937, the German "Condor Legion" carried out an air raid on Guernica in Spain, dropping thousands of bombs in three hours, destroying the city, which burned for another three days.