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79th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany

Lavrov to attend laying flowers at Russian Foreign Ministry on Victory Day

Maria Zakharova also stressed that Russian diplomatic missions abroad become "centers of historical celebration"

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the ministry's leadership, as well as veterans and young diplomats will take part in a flower-laying ceremony on the occasion of Victory Day which will be held at the Russian Foreign Ministry on May 8, Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

"According to tradition, a ceremony of laying flowers will be held at the Russian Foreign Ministry on the eve of the holiday, on May 8. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the ministry's leadership, veterans and young diplomats will take part in it," she said.

Zakharova noted that as part of the Victory Day celebrations, the lobby of the central building of the Russian diplomatic office will host a "historical and documentary exhibition 'Diplomacy and the Liberation Mission of the Red Army in Central and Southern Europe'." "We will definitely publish the relevant content on our social media accounts," the diplomat added.

The spokeswoman also stressed that Russian diplomatic missions abroad become "centers of historical celebration." "Depending on the conditions of stay in the countries of accreditation, holiday programs of our diplomatic missions include visits to congratulate veterans, presenting gifts and flowers, festivals of war films, concerts, contests of frontline songs, drawings, posters, thematic radio programs, articles, speeches of ambassadors in the central mass media, historical and documentary exhibitions, open Russian language lessons dedicated to Victory Day," she continued. "In the diplomatic mission schools, these include solemn lines, which have already become traditional, the Victory Dictation, the Garden of Memory, Victory Windows, the minute of silence, the Candle of Remembrance, ceremonial evenings and receptions," she added.

Besides, Zakharova drew attention to the unabated interest in the St. George's Ribbon campaign, "which has become the main attribute of Victory Day not only in Russia." "To honor the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War in the framework of the Immortal Regiment campaign, our compatriots in many countries will come out. Of course, online formats will make it possible to expand the circle of participants in this event, which has already become <...> worldwide, uniting those who really care about the memory of the generation of the Great Patriotic War heroes," the diplomat concluded.

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