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Kaliningrad dedicates rally to anniversary of victory in WWII

Participants in the rally intend to visit more than 50 WWII memorials and common graves during scheduled stopovers en route

KALININGRAD, May 7 (Itar-Tass) - A mass rally dedicated to the 68th anniversary of victory in World War II has been held in Kaliningrad on the Russian westernmost enclave on Tuesday. Participants in the rally intend to visit more than 50 WWII memorials and common graves during scheduled stopovers en route.

The rally was organized by a regional department of the Russian defence sports-technical organization (DOSAAF) with the support of the Kaliningrad regional government.

After a meeting held in Kaliningrad on the occasion of opening the rally participants laid flowers to a monument to famous WWII battle field commander Alexander Vasilevsky who had been commander of the 3rd Belarussian Front since February 1945 and in the beginning of April supervised a battle for the fortress city of Koeningsberg.

On April 10, 1945 Soviet soldiers who fought against Nazis under Vasilyevsky's command, mounted a banner of victory over Der Dona fort, which is now situated barely a dozen meters of the square named after the legendary WWII military commander.

The Banner of Victory has become a symbol of the Roads of Victory rally and it by right has been put in the place of honor on the front car.

The rally, which is a thousand kilometers long all in all, will move along four routes, covering more than 50 towns and settlements where WWII memorials and common graves are, Deputy chairman of the DOSAAF regional department Sergei Ferafontov told Itar-Tass.

WWII veterans will be honored during gala events to be held in places where the rally is to make scheduled stopovers. Flowers will be laid to war memorials, songs popular during WWII will be performed by amateur pop and folk groups.

Taking part in the rally are veterans, representatives of public organizations and local administrations, bikers, drivers, schoolchildren and students numbering around 500 all in all. Local residents might join the rally as it moves on.

The rally will be crowned with gala ceremony to be held in Kaliningrad tonight near a memorial to 1,200 hero soldiers killed in action during a battle for Koeningsberg.

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