Russia remembers victims of Great Patriotic War on Day of Memory and Grief

YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS. Today marks exactly 75 years agosince Nazi troops attacked the Soviet Union. During the 1,418 days of the Great Patriotic war about 27 million of Soviet citizens were killed including 18 million of civilians, TASS reports.

In memory of those who were killed in that war Russia declared June 22 the Day of Memory and Grief.

Late in the evening on the eve of that date, Russians light candles in windows of their apartments and houses.

About 8 mln people took part in the Memory Candle campaign that was held for the eighth time this year. The number of candles, which is equal to number of days of the war, was lit in Moscow at the Poklonnaya Hill, in St. Petersburg on the Fontanka embankment, in Volgograd at the Mamayev Kurgan.

On June 22, all across Russia people will lower national flags. The authorities recommend television channels and radio stations not to broadcast entertainment programs on this day.

President Vladimir Putin is to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow. The regions will hold meetings with veterans and other events dedicated to the memory of the victims.

Since 1994 the Memory Watch action is held annually on this day. It involves activists of youth movements, veterans, representatives of the Moscow government.

At 4 am on June 22 in the Alexander Garden near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lay flowers and honor the memory of the war victims observing a minute of silence.

Since 2009, when the Memory Alley was open on the Vorobyevy Hills in Moscow, on the night of June 22 people light candles and tie bells to branches of trees as a tribute to those who died.

The Day of Memory and Grief will also be marked by the Memory Train campaign. On June 20, veterans and representatives of youth organizations stepped in the train on the route Moscow-Minsk - Brest. On June 22, the train arrives in Brest where solemn memorial events are to take place.

On the radio famous Russian actors and presenters will read children's diaries of the war years. They were written during the siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), in ghettos and concentration camps, in the rear and on the front line.

For the first time June 22 was declared the Day of memory of defenders of Fatherland in 1992 by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation. In 1996, by the presidential decree it was renamed into the Day of Memory and Grief. Eleven years later it was put on the list of days of military glory and memorable dates in Russia, established by the federal law dated March 13, 1995.