PYONGYANG, May 31. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday laid wreaths at the Liberation Monument to Soviet soldiers, which was erected after the Red Army defeated Japan’s Kwantung Army on the Korean Peninsula in 1945.

The golden text on the monument in Russian and Korean reads: "The great Soviet people defeated the Japanese imperialists and liberated the people of Korea. The blood shed by Soviet soldiers during the liberation of Korea has served to strengthen the bonds of friendship binding the Korean and the Soviet peoples."

According to the Russian Embassy, 1,375 Soviet citizens, including 991 servicemen, were buried in mass and individual graves in North Korea. The names of some of them are still unknown but every year the list of unidentified soldiers is reduced and changes are made on the memorial stones due to a joint effort of both countries.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov, who is paying a visit to Pyongyang, laid flowers to a monument to North Korea’s first leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The ceremony was attended by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Russian Ambassador to Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora.