KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, June 23. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday attended the ceremony to open the Alley of Allies, who fought alongside the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War.

"Today we must remember those who fought shoulder-to-shoulder with us in that big, hard, deadly war. We had many allies," he said. "And today we are opening first monuments to our allies."

The alley includes monuments to Chinese and Mongolian allies, French pilots of the Normandie-Niemen fighter squadron and US soldiers, who took part in the war before the Second Front was opened.

The Great Patriotic War started on June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war. In 2007 a special law was passed to put the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow (June 22) on the list of memorable dates.