The Russian Memorial is an obelisk in the churchyard of St John sub Castro in Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, England (grid reference TQ4152210471).

[4] Such freedom of movement left them "frequently subjected to annoyance, insult, and even personal violence from the low characters who loiter in the streets", though the local magistrates dealt severely with such offences.

[6] The receipts were used to purchase additional food and luxuries: according to the Times, "it has been said that they are too well fed", and "scarcely a prisoner is without a watch, and many of the time-pieces are of gold".

[7] The generous treatment afforded to the Finnish prisoners was not universally popular: a letter to the Times spoke of general disgust that:[8]... when we see bereaved widows and fatherless orphans of our butchered soldiers starving while points of military etiquette are being discussed, we are informed that the Russian prisoners at Lewes have had their wives brought over to live with them, are selling their toys as fast as they can make them at high prices, and to crown all, have received large sums of money from various noblemen and gentlemen to provide themselves with luxuries!After a group of men had refused to go out for exercise unless accompanied by three of their number in solitary confinement for misconduct, and their protest had escalated to armed rebellion, 25 of the ringleaders were removed to a prison ship at Sheerness, and the remainder locked in their own cells at night.

[10] The death-toll would rise to 28 by the end of their incarceration, and the dead were buried in the nearby churchyard of St John sub Castro.

[12] The commanding officer publicly thanked the people of Lewes and wrote to the Senior Constable on behalf of his fellow officers, expressing gratitude for having "enjoyed the hospitality of many, and urbane treatment from all" and spoke of their pleasure at the prospect of returning home being "much modified by the regret we feel in thus bidding farewell to those who have shown so much kindness".

At the behest of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, a monument was commissioned to commemorate those 28 Finnish prisoners of war who died during their captivity.

That on the east side reads "Sacred to the Memory of the Russian Soldiers who died Prisoners of War in Lewes in the years 1854 1855 1856", and on the west reads "Raised by Order of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia Alexander II 1877", and now carries an addition to show that the Soviet Embassy restored the memorial in 1957.

[19] Stephen Plaice used the story as the inspiration for the libretto of an opera, The Finnish Prisoner, set to music by Orlando Gough and incorporating the song Oolannin sota.