Public diplomacy and civil initiative This album illustrates both graphically and literally in chronological order (1988 and 2010-2016) the events that are related to the search ofthe burial site of Konstantin Pats (Pyats), the first President of the Republic of Estonia and one of the founders of the Estonian state. The album portrays the commemoration of Pats in the Burashevo settlement in the district of Kalinin in Tver oblast in the Russian Federation, where he resided in the Litvinov Psychiatric Hospital as a captive in 1955 and where he diedon 18 January 1956. As it turned out, the President was buried in an unmarked grave and the abandoned graveyard was soon engulfed by the surrounding nature.Thanks to the recollection of Pats’ doctor, the 83-year-old Dr.Ksenia Gusseva,it was possible to uncoverthatby way of exception Pats was buried in a coffin and dressed — in contrast to the clinic’s other dead. Gusseva pointed out an approximate location in the forest wherethe remains shouldbe searched. I handedthe respective data and video over to Pats’ grandson after I arrived back from Burashevo.This information served as the essential foundation for making the identification of the President possible during the relevant excavation investigations in Burashevo – expedition headed by the Estonian Heritage Society and others in 1990 (the excavation and relocation of the remains are not portrayed in this album: we —the primary discoverers of Pats’ burial site — were not involved in the process… !!!). In 2010, we, three pensioners, went to Burashevo on our own initiative.What we saw and experienced there, including my own, as well as primarily NGO EVA Studiorum and others’ further activities regarding the commemoration of K. Pats and the development of amicable relations and co-operation in Burashevo and Tver, is what is reflected in this album. In 2011, thanks to the efforts of the municipal government in Burashevo, Pats’ former burial site was commemorated with a wooden grave cross and Dr.Gusseva’s final resting place obtained a gravestone. At this particular event, the mounting of the cross, I represented Estonia alone, but later, other companions joined. As part of a civil initiative, in order to memorialize Pats’ burial site, we placed amemorial plaque and a massive fieldstone from the local earth’s crust on it during the years 2014 and 2015. The fieldstone reminded of a segment of the seaside heap in the president’s birthplace, Tahkurand. Currently the designing of the site is in its final stages .Our delegation has the great honour of looking back on our first President Konstantin Patslife’sjourney and struggles on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Estonian state that he founded;hence, portraying a day of celebration that we, public diplomats, showing great awareness for this valuable mission and our state’s history, dedicate our activities to— starting withthe search of the President’s burial site in the heart of the Russian Federation, in Tver, until the proper celebration of his place of burial 30 years later. The financial contributors to the commemoration, planning and construction of K. Pats’ burial siteare: Nikolai Pankratjev — former chairman of the parish council in Burashevo, as private person The municipalityBurashevo Henn Latt — private person NGO EVA Studiorum (NiinaPeerna, KetlinPukk, etc.)

A permanent display in memory of Konstantin Päts has been opened in Russia (Pdf fail is in Estonian language)