Human Interest

Putin honors the fallen during Russia’s Great Patriotic War

Moscow, June 22 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday honored the fallen during the Great Patriotic War, a conflict on the eastern front of World War II between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The president laid a wreath at the foot of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, located in the Alexander Gardens in Moscow, next to the western face of the Kremlin wall, on the 82nd anniversary of the conflict.

Putin got down on one knee to rearrange the ribbons of the flower wreath, after which he stood with his head bowed to observe a minute’s silence in front of the monument that honors those who died in the war with a perpetual flame.

After silence fell over the historic monument the Russian anthem echoed through the gardens.

Several other Kremlin chiefs and war veterans also laid flowers at the foot of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Putin then placed red carnations on the monoliths of the Soviet cities distinguished with the honorary title of Hero City, among them the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and Odesa, which have been pummeled by Russian forces in recent weeks as the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine rages.

June 22 is a Day of Remembrance and Sorrow in Russia.

On the same day in 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union despite the non-aggression pact both powers had penned on August 23, 1939, nine days before the start of World War II.

According to official statistics, more than 27 million Soviet citizens died as a result of the war, although experts and historians say that the losses were much higher. EFE

mos/ch

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