Hundreds of people in Bulgaria have gathered at a monument to Soviet soldiers – nicknamed ‘Alyosha’ – to mark its 50th anniversary.

The 17-metre granite monument to Red Army soldiers in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv is widely believed to be named after Aleksey Skurlatov, a 22-year old Russian signaller. He was among the first Soviet soldiers to enter Bulgaria in 1944.
 
“When one of my father's friends saw the monument 13 years later, he said, ”Alyosha! Brother!“ and wrote his name on the statue with chalk . Since then people have called it Alyosha,” explained Aleksey Skurlatov’s daughter.
 
The story of the Alyosha monument has not been without controversy. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, along with other Soviet monuments in Eastern Europe, Alyosha was attacked.

It was smeared with black paint, and, on another occasion, hundreds gathered at the foot of the hill calling for it to be razed to the ground.

At the beginning of 1990s the mayor of Plovdiv wanted to blow up the monument, but as it would be necessary to evacuate a third of the city’s population the idea was rejected. Instead he came up with another one – to cover Alyosha with a huge Coca-Cola can!
 
To celebrate Alyosha’s 50th anniversary, hundreds of people climbed up the 300-metre Liberators’ Hill in Plovdiv’s centre.

To many Alyosha seems to convey a message:
 
“He turns to the East, with his back to those he fought against during WW2. He's a symbol of peace. His gun faces downwards – he doesn’t want war,” said Todor Petkov, Plovdiv Regional Governor.