Ninety-nine years since the chapel was built in memory of the Russian POWs who died building a key supply road for the Isonzo Front in the Slovenian Alps, the organisers of the memorial service wanted to add to it a new spiritual dimension.

They have therefore invited representatives of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Muslim and Jewish religious communities for today's debate to promote peace, friendship and solidarity.

The meeting will feature Bishop of Celje Stanislav Lipovšek, Bishop of the Slovenian Lutheran Church Geza Filo, Porfirije, who heads the Zagreb-Ljubljana Serbian Orthodox Church, Rabbi Ariel Hadad from Italy's Trieste, who is in responsible for Slovenia, and Nevzet Porić of the Slovenian Muslim Community.

The Russian Orthodox Church will be represented by Bishop Sava of Voskresensk, deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The closed-door debate will be hosted by Riko CEO Janez Škrabec, who does a lot of business with Russia and is one of the main sponsors of the Russian Chapel event.

The participants will try to send out a message of peace, said Saša Geržina of the Slovenia-Russia Association, one of the main organisers of the Russian Chapel event.

"The chapel, which is a symbol of war, is turning into a symbol of peace and unity," he said, explaining that "every symbol of war has potential to become a symbol of peace".

Slovenia's first ambassador to Russia also said human tragedies should be remembered from the aspect of topical political relations in the world.

He added that there were conflicts from Gibraltar to Afghanistan and Europe was witnessing saber-rattling, with all these conflicts having "a certain inter-religious motive".