MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. Russia will preserve the memory of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) and protect its truth, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday during the ceremony of laying flowers beside the Eternal Flame near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.
"I am sure that we will preserve this memory, this truth about the war. 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," the Russian leader said.
"Here, at the Eternal Flame, we bow our heads before all those, who did not return from war, to all the veterans that passed away. Today, on the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow, all our thoughts and feelings are with them," the president said.
Putin noted that June 22 is a difficult and tragic date. "The great-grandchildren of those, who stood up to protect their Motherland from the first minutes of the heinous Nazi invasion in 1941, have grown up already, but this day, June 22, still causes outrage and sorrow in the hearts of all generations, fills us with pain over the broken fates of millions of people, because those hardships, those horrifying years are etched in our memory," the Russian leader said.
Russian WWII veterans, military officers, cadets and school students took part in the ceremony with the Russian leader. A guard of honor marched in front of the monument to mark the end of the solemn ceremony.