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The ceremony at the memorial ended with a march of the guard of honour and a military band.

The President also laid flowers at the obelisks of hero cities and the monument honouring the cities of military glory.

Following the ceremony on Ivanovskaya Square of the Moscow Kremlin, Vladimir Putin watched a flypast marking the 75^th anniversary of Victory.

The President instructed Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to pass on his words of appreciation to the airborne personnel and ground services of the Russian Defence Ministry who performed and supported the flypast over Moscow and other Russian cities on Victory Day.

Vladimir Putin congratulated veterans and all Russians on Victory Day.

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Speech at the flower-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Dear citizens of Russia, veterans, friends,

With all my heart, I greet you on Victory Day.

This day is our most important and most cherished holiday, which we celebrate solemnly across our nation, all together.

Victory Day will always have a tremendous spiritual and moral significance and be a sacred date for us.

It is our memory and pride, the history of our country and of every family. It is a part of our souls, passed on to us by our parents and grandparents.

Today we strongly feel the magnitude of their fates as we remember those who are no longer with us and look lovingly at their photographs of different years. We wish our veterans a long life and bow to the glorious generation of victors.

They did so much for our Motherland that it is impossible to measure or repay. They saved our country and the future generations; they liberated Europe, protected peace, restored cities and villages and achieved enormous success.

We pay tribute and endlessly honour the monumental and selfless heroism of the Soviet people, people of different ethnicities who stood shoulder to shoulder with each other in combat and on the home front. Their courage, unity, nobility and truly unfaltering willpower are timeless.

Friends,

This place by the Kremlin Wall is sacred to all of us. The Eternal Flame burns here night and day, in tribute to those who fell during the Great Patriotic War. It is here that the Unknown Soldier lays. We come here to pay our respects to him, as well as to all the defenders of our Motherland.

We pay tribute to the heroes lying in unknown mass graves near Moscow and Smolensk, Stalingrad and Kursk, Sevastopol and Minsk, Kiev and Riga, Berlin and Vienna, at the Pulkovo Heights, and on the banks of the Neva, the Dnieper, the Danube, the Vistula and the Oder.

Millions of those who fell did not live to see the Victory they dreamed of, believing that they would prevail over the enemy and return home. This is what they fought for to their last breath. They sacrificed their lives so that we, our children and grandchildren, and those who are yet to be born live in a world saved and preserved by the Soviet soldier.

We bow our heads in tribute to those who did not return from the war, commemorating our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters, comrades in arms, relatives and friends.

Let us observe a minute of silence.

(A minute of silence.)

Friends,

The Great Patriotic War ended 75 years ago. We will celebrate this anniversary properly and on a grand scale, as we always do, since this is the debt we owe to those who achieved Victory through their sacrifice.

We will have the main parade on Red Square, and the people’s Immortal Regiment march to show our gratitude and the unbreakable and living bonds of kinship linking generations.

Our veterans fought for life and against death, and we will always try to live up to their spirit of unanimity and resilience.

We are united by our shared memory, hopes and aspirations, as well as a sense of shared responsibility for the present and the future.

We know and strongly believe that when we stand together, we are invincible.

Congratulations to all of you on this holiday.

Happy Victory Day!

Hooray!

(Russia’s National Anthem.)