MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated a number of foreign leaders on the 72nd anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

"The Russian president has congratulated the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as the citizens of Georgia and Ukraine, on the on the 72nd anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War," the statement reads.

In his messages, Putin stressed that "the Victory Day is a sacred date and a symbol of the extraordinary courage of our fathers and grandfathers who fought side by side on the battlefield and worked hard in the rear during the war to save their Motherland and the entire world from Fascism."

The Russian president also said that "cooperating in the fight against attempts to distort history and justify the deeds of Fascists and Nazis will be the best way to pay tribute to the soldier liberators."

Putin was confident that the tradition of friendship and mutual assistance, strengthened in the times of the war, would remain the basis for the development of allied partnership and cooperation aimed at ensuring regional stability and security.

Putin also conveyed his greetings to all veterans of the war and home front workers.