Putin lays down wreath of flowers at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, carnations at monuments to Hero Cities in Alexander Garden
MOSCOW. June 22 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin laid down a wreath of flowers to the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow's Alexander Garden on the Day of Memory and Sorrow to remember the people who fell in the Great Patriotic War.
Soldiers from the Guard of Honor, who marched under mourning music, carried a red wreath of carnations and roses, decorated with fir branches and bound with a ribbon in the colors of the Russian flag bearing the words "To the Unknown Soldier from the President of the Russian Federation".
Putin approached the wreath and, adjusting the ribbons, bowed his head in memory of the people who fell in the Great Patriotic War. Afterwards, the Russian national anthem was played.
In addition to the president, the mourning ceremony was also attended by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, and government officials and parliamentarians.
Under the legendary song 'The Sacred War', which was played by a military orchestra, the ceremony for laying down wreaths of flowers at the Eternal Flame continued with a march of the Moscow garrison troops, which represented three branches of the armed forces: the Ground Forces, the Air Force and the Navy.
The president then laid down carnations at each monument to the Hero Cities, remembering their defenders.