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PREVIEW: Russia to honor special military op participants on Defender of Fatherland Day

Moscow's cultural venues have prepared more than 440 events - sports and intellectual competitions, lectures, thematic exhibitions, excursions and concerts

MOSCOW, February 23. /TASS/. Russia will celebrate the Defender of the Fatherland Day with patriotic events, which will echo the events of the Great Patriotic War and the special military operation.

The Defense Ministry’s thematic train "Strength in Truth" will depart on February 23 through Russian cities from Moscow to Vladivostok, its route will be over 34,000 kilometers. The train will feature carriages with various exhibitions, and the stations will host concerts by outreach teams from leading creative groups of the Russian Defense Ministry.

Moscow's cultural venues have prepared more than 440 events - sports and intellectual competitions, lectures, thematic exhibitions, excursions and concerts.

In St. Petersburg, the Defender of the Fatherland Day will be celebrated with a ceremonial laying of flowers at the Hero City Leningrad monument, exhibitions and a festive concert.

The celebrations in Kaliningrad will end with festive fireworks of 30 artillery salvoes. Along with modern artillery units, the light show will feature front-line weapons - ZIS-30 anti-tank guns, which were used in the battles during the assault on Konigsberg.

Fireworks will also decorate the sky in six cities of the Far East - Khabarovsk, Ussuriysk, Belogorsk, Chita, Ulan-Ude and Vladivostok. In Samara, artillerymen will hold a light show on the embankment of the Volga River. Artillery salutes will sound in Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.

The Defender of the Fatherland Day is celebrated annually on February 23. It was established by the federal law "On the Days of Military Glory of Russia" on March 13, 1995.

Since 1923, on the basis of an order of the Revolutionary Military Council, February 23 in the Soviet Union was officially celebrated as the Day of the Red Army and Navy.

February 23 is a memorable date in some states of the former Soviet Union. In Belarus, on this day they celebrate the Day of Defenders of the Fatherland and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, in Tajikistan - the Day of Defender of the Fatherland and the Day of Education.

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