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President lays wreath at Tomb of Unknown Soldier in Moscow

The ceremony was concluded with a march of the Guard of Honour

MOSCOW, February 23 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall on Fatherland Defender Day.

Together with the president, war veterans, Federation Council and State Duma Speakers Valentina Matviyenko and Sergei Naryshkin, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and other officials and politicians participated in the ceremony in the Alexander Garden.

"For the Unknown Soldier from the President of the RF" is written on the Russian-flag-coloured ribbon on the wreath. The other participants laid red carnations at the monument. Then, the participants stood for a minute's silence. The anthem of Russia was played. The ceremony was concluded with a march of the Guard of Honour.

A ceremony of wreath laying by the country's leaders at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Fatherland Defender Day is an established tradition.

The remains of the unknown soldier were transferred from a common grave near Moscow and buried in a ceremony in the Alexander Garden in 1966. The memorial was unveiled the next year. The Guard of Honour was posted here in 1997. It is Post No One.

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