Putin lays wreath at Tomb to Unknown Soldier

Russian President Vladimir Putin laid a wreath at the Tomb to the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin on June 22, the 63rd anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

The wreath was made of vinous roses, white gladioli and fir-tree branches.

The president fitted into place a ribbon of the wreath reading "To the Unknown Soldier from President of the Russian Federation".

Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, other members of the cabinet of ministers, Kremlin administration chief Dmitry Medvedev and members of parliament attended the ceremony and laid pinks to the tomb after the presidential orchestra played the anthem of Russia.

Wreaths from war veterans and the Defence Ministry were also laid at the tomb.

A guard of honour marched past the eternal flame at the Tomb to the Unknown Soldier.

Putin said in his speech during the May 9 military parade on Red Square that "we know how fascism was born and that the world could deal a final strike to Nazism only by joining efforts".

"But today we have no right to close our eyes to the fact that the Nazi swastika and the idea of fascism are still walking in the world and that not less terrible evil have added to them -- international terrorism. The task of the whole world community is to give a fitting rebuff to terrorists, to rid the world of this pest," Putin then said.

A presidential decree of June 8, 1996, fixed June 22 as the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow.

Source: Agencies