Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has signed an order making February 23 a day of mourning for the North Caucasus republic over mass Stalin-era deportations, it was announced on Tuesday.

The move was announced at a memorial service in Grozny for the 66th anniversary of the deportations. February 23 is also Russia’s Defenders of the Fatherland national holiday, previously Soviet Army and Navy Day.

“We are obliged to know and remember everything – both the good and the bad – connected to the history of our people,” Kadyrov said at an event in a central Grozny concert hall.

 “I am sure the tragic events in our history are over…I pray that the Almighty will help us live in peace and harmony with all,” he added.

The Chechen and Ingush peoples were exiled by Stalin to Siberia and the steppes of north Kazakhstan in 1944. They were ostensibly deported for having aided Hitler's troops during WWII, although as historians have pointed out, German forces did not reach the Caucasus.

Some 450,000 people were deported in just eight days, according to archives.

Some 20% are believed to have died on the long journey, and many more during their first months of exile.

The decision to allow them to return home was taken on January 9, 1957, almost four years after Stalin's death.

GROZNY, February 23 (RIA Novosti)