A picador is a bullfighter who uses a special lance called pica while on horseback to test the bull's strength and to provide clues to the matador on which side the bull is favoring...the picador lances the bull in a large muscle at the back of the neck; thus begins the work of lowering his head. The picador continues to stab at the bull's neck leading to the animal's first major loss of blood. The enduring loss of blood and exertion gradually weakens the bull further and makes it ready for the next stage.

The banderillero is a torero who plants the banderillas (lit. little flags). These are colorful sticks... Banderilleros attempt to place the sticks while running as close to the bull as possible. They are judged by the crowd on their form and bravery. Skilled banderilleros can correct faults in the manner in which the bull charges by lancing the bull in such a way that the bull ceases hooking to one side, and thereby removing a potential source of danger to the matador by limiting the bull's offensive movements.

In the third and final stage – the tercio de muerte ("part of death") – the matador re-enters the ring alone with a small red cape or muleta in one hand and a sword (estoc) in the other. This cape is stretched with a wooden dowel and, in right-handed passes, the sword as well. Having dedicated the bull to an individual or the whole audience, the matador uses his cape to attract the bull in a series of passes, demonstrating their control over it. The faena ends with a final series of passes in which the matador with a muleta attempts to manoeuvre the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades and through the aorta or heart.

"Actually, it would now be urgently advisable for the government of Uri to have the Suvorov monument in the Schöllenen Gorge covered by a huge Ukrainian flag by official decision of the government council": this is what Karl Stadler, former public prosecutor in Uri and now cantonal data protection officer, demands in a letter to the editor. This would be a strong sign of sympathy for the fate of the Ukrainian people.

Why this is important beyond the mountain canton: the 12-metre-high memorial cross in honour of the fallen soldiers in the battle against Napoleon's troops in 1799 is more than a remnant of a historical era that is hardly present any more.

Monument should not become a place of pilgrimage

In his incendiary speech on 23 February, with which he launched the war against Ukraine, Vladimir Putin explicitly referred to General Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov. Thanks to his campaigns against the Turks, many large cities in Ukraine had been brought under Russian rule. In addition, he had settled the Crimea with people loyal to Russia.

The fact that a monument to Suvorov was recently toppled in the Ukrainian city of Poltava in order to erase "colonial traces of the Russian empire" really infuriated the Russian despot during his speech to the nation.

This heroisation of the Russian commander now puts the political leadership of the central Swiss canton of Uri in a quandary. Normally, the seven magistrates do not react to letters to the editor. This time it is different. "We don't want the monument to become a place of pilgrimage in these times of war, neither for Russians nor for Ukrainians," says Landammann Urban Camenzind. They would certainly not have the monument wrapped in a Ukraine flag.

The people of Uri could not and would not be allowed to do so, since the corresponding 563 square metre plot in the Schöllenen Gorge belongs to the Russians. That is why the government of Uri is trying to work through discreet channels to keep things quiet at this historic site. Camenzind explains that the head of protocol at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Beatrice Schaer, has been contacted to express Uri's concerns.

According to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), no permit is required for events in the Schöllenen. "The Russian Embassy informs the FDFA about planned events and we then inform the relevant authorities," says spokesperson Andreas Heller. The last events took place as part of the Suvorov Days on 24 and 25 September last year.

The annual commemorations are always held with a lot of pomp: The so-called Suvorov cadets, recruits of the Moscow military school, play for the wreath-laying ceremony. In 2009, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev visited the memorial together with the then President of the Swiss Confederation, Hans-Rudolf Merz, to show how important this monument carved in granite is to the Russians.

Usually also present at this event at the end of September is the ambassador of the Russian Federation. In retrospect, Sergei Garmonin's speech in 2019 seems like a beacon for the war of invasion now launched by Russia. Suvorov had managed to emerge victorious from all 63 battles, thanks in part to his slogan, Garmonin said: "We are Russians - we will win."