Russians must preserve memory of Nazi invasion, says Putin

Moscow, Jun 22 (EFE).- Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russians will preserve the memory and truth about the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union as Moscow marks its 80th anniversary.

“I am sure that we will preserve this memory, this truth about the war,” Putin said after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, at the Kremlin wall.

The Russian president, clad in rigorous mourning, added: “We are doing everything that we can to ensure that our country, our motherland is a great and mighty power, and we will continue to do so.

“We will always be grateful to the victors made immortal, to all those who gifted life and peace to us, the future generations.

“Here, at the Eternal Flame, we bow our heads before all those who did not return from war, to all the veterans that died. Today, on the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow, all our thoughts and feelings are with them,” he said.

At the dawn of 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union – despite a non-aggression pact they both signed in 1939 – nine days before World War II broke out.

 The official data shows that Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), as it is known in Russia, killed over 27 million Soviet people, although the real fatalities could be much more than the official toll according to experts and historians. EFE

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