MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent greetings on occasion of Victory Day to North Korea’s last living female veteran of the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War Ri Yong-suk, 105.
The Russian Embassy in North Korea posted a photo of the Russian leader’s congratulatory message on its Facebook page on Thursday.
"Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on Victory Day. This year marks 80 years since the tragic date of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War - the most brutal and bloody in the history of the 20th century. It caused innumerable suffering and pain of loss, leaving a deep and non-healing mark in the fate of every family and every person," the congratulatory message says. "But you and your comrades, the entire people honorably fulfilled the high mission of liberation - crushed Nazism and saved the peoples of Europe from enslavement. It is our duty to carefully preserve the memory of the victors’ great feat and pass it on to future generations. "
The president wished the veteran good health, success and well-being. Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora handed over Putin’s congratulation and a bouquet to his Korean colleagues.
The Russian Embassy noted that Ri Yong-suk was in the 88th Separate Brigade of the Red Army’s Far Eastern front, which took part in the battles to liberate Korea from Japanese militarists.