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Putin lays wreath at Tomb of Unknown Soldier in Moscow

Foreign leaders invited to the Victory Day parade also participated in the wreath-laying ceremony
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk on Red Square during Moscow's Victory Parade  Mikhail Mettsel/TASS
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk on Red Square during Moscow's Victory Parade
© Mikhail Mettsel/TASS

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Kremlin Wall honoring the memory of those killed in the Second World War.

The Russian leader, accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, walked to the Alexander Garden after the Victory Parade ended on Moscow’s Red Square and after he talked briefly with each of the war veterans.

Foreign leaders invited to the Victory Day parade also participated in the wreath-laying ceremony. Leaders of Abkhazia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik), Kazakhstan, Moldova, Serbia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and South Ossetia were among the honored guests of the parade.

After laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Putin paid tribute to those killed in the Second World War with a minute of silence. The ceremony ended with the Russian anthem and a march by the guard of honor. After that, the Russian president and the foreign leaders left the Alexander Garden.

The remains of the Unknown Soldier were transferred from a common grave near Moscow and buried in a ceremony in the Alexander Garden in 1966. The memorial was unveiled the next year. The guard of honor was placed here back in 1997 and since then the site has been its Post No. 1.