Russia will cherish the memory and truth about the Great Patriotic War, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at a ceremony laying flowers at the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden on the occasion of Remembrance and Sorrow Day.
"I am sure that we will preserve this memory and this truth about the war. We are doing and will continue doing everything in our power so that our country, our Fatherland remains a great and mighty power, and will always be grateful to the victors who stepped into eternity and who gave us, their future generations the legacy of life and peace," the Russian leader said.
"Here, at the Eternal Flame, we bow our heads to all those who did not return from the war, to the veterans who left us. Today, on the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow, all our thoughts and feelings are turned to them," the president added.
He called today's date heavy and tragic. "The great-grandchildren of those who stood up in defense of our Fatherland in the first minutes after the treacherous Nazi attack in 1941 have grown up, but this day, June 22, continues to evoke indignation and sorrow in the hearts of all generations, reviving pain for the mangled lives of millions of our people, because the trials they withstood in those terrible years have been forever embedded in our memory," said Putin.
Genocide unknown to history
The Nazis' goal during World War II was not just to take over the USSR, but to exterminate and enslave its inhabitants, and history has never known such brutal genocide, the Russian president said.
"It was not enough for the enemy to take our land. It came to destroy our people and to turn the survivors into slaves without a national language, traditions of their forefathers or their culture. History had never seen genocide on this scale before," the Russian leader said. "Our blood still runs cold when we recall the methods used by the Nazis and their accomplices to implement their deadly plans and the atrocities they committed against peaceful civilians – the elderly, women and children," he noted.
Putin stressed the spiritual unity, solidarity and mass heroism of the Soviet people became the answer to such a fierce evil, and people's faith in the triumph of justice and in the victory "had incomprehensible power".
In the name of liberating our Fatherland, the Soviet people withstood all the trials and tribulations, sorrow, suffering, and death on the frontline and in the rear, rising to the heights of courage and sacrifice in the flames of battles and during debilitating labor at the factories and plants. And they attained a truly Great Victory".
Putin stressed that it is impossible to forget this, and it is no surprise that the Eternal Flame has become the symbol of memory.
"Decades go by, but people of all ages never stop laying flowers at our military memorials, both on working days and during holidays, including here, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexander Garden," said the president of Russia. - "For many people, the Unknown Soldier is a family member, a grandfather or a great-grandfather who is missing in action, a fellow soldier, a loved one, and all those who perished in battles or from hunger, cold and wounds".
Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, active officers, cadets and participants in the All-Russian competition for schoolchildren "Big Break" took part in the ceremony of laying flowers with the President of Russia. Putin also laid flowers at the obelisks of the cities-heroes and the memorial sign in honor of the cities of military glory. At the end of the ceremony, the honor guard corps marched in front of the memorial.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS