A solemn ceremony of laying flowers to pillbox No. 232 took place in the Kurortny district of St. Petersburg.

On May 5, 2025, in the Kurortny district of St. Petersburg, as part of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, a solemn flower-laying ceremony was held at Long-term Firing Point No. 232.
The event was attended by Ivan Skladchikov, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Investment Committee, Alexander Zabaykin, Head of the administration of the Kurortny District of St. Petersburg, Dmitry Gubin, General Director of ZSD JSC, Alexey Nikiforov, General Director of Magistral of the Northern Capital LLC, Oleg Bushko, Chairman of the Council of the Sestroretsk Frontier Youth and Patriotic Club.
Today, pillboxes are monuments of Russian military history. One of these facilities, Machine Gun Pillbox No. 232, was preserved and restored as part of the construction of the Western High-Speed Diameter interchange in 2019.
Machine gun pillbox No. 232, located on a New Highway near the ZSD highway, serves as a reminder of what happened on these lands more than 80 years ago.
In 1928, the USSR began the construction of long-term defensive lines on the western borders. The Karelian fortified area north of Leningrad became the first such line. During this period, the border between Soviet Russia and Finland ran along the Sestra River. In the early 1930s, machine-gun pillbox No. 232 was also built, located near the place where the Beloostrovsky section of the ZSD is now located.
During the Great Patriotic War, this pillbox had the number 174, the call sign "Funnel" and was a single-story firing point with a firing range of 296 degrees. Three Maxim machine guns were installed as weapons in it, a periscope was used for viewing, and an embrasure with the simplest armor plating protected the entrance to the structure. In addition, ventilation pipes and stoves were removed through this embrasure, water supply systems were installed inside the machine gun casings and discharge of powder gases during intensive firing. The pillbox was defended by a garrison from the 106th separate machine gun and artillery battalion.
Decades after the war, the pillbox was in an abandoned state until it was restored by the builders of the new ZSD interchange. The work was carried out with the participation of historians and experts. As part of the restoration of the pillbox, its outdoor lighting was created. Pillbox No. 232 is now a museum – the atmosphere of the war years of the last century has been recreated here, and some exhibits can be touched with your hands.