Monument to Aleksandr II, the Tsar Liberator, unveiled in Moscow

At last. It was a bit incogruent that, while even Finland had a statue of Alexander the Liberator on one of Helsinki's downtown squares, Moscow had not.

RIA Novosti had a freudian slip in this article: the inscription says that he "freed Slavonic peoples from the Ottoman yoke", not "the Slavonic people from the Islamic yoke", as their article says. While his wars led to the independence of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro, Bosnia continued to be Ottoman until early XX century. Besides, most of Slavonic peoples didn't live under Islamic rule. And substituting general 'Islamic' instead of specific 'Ottoman' is historically wrong: while most of the war of the time were waged against Islamic countries, he integrated Muslims in the Russian society. Actually, among those who fought against Turks there were Islamic Azeri troops and officers. Khan of Nakhichevan, to name one, showed exceptional bravery and loyalty in the siege of Bayazet.