Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as leaders and high-ranking representatives of foreign countries invited to the celebration of the 81st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, ascended the central tribune in front of Red Square, where the parade will soon begin, TASS reported, quoted by BTA.
The Russian president walked out of the Kremlin onto Red Square together with foreign leaders who had arrived in Moscow. Among the invited guests were, in particular, the President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, the Supreme Governor of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, the Presidents of South Ossetia Alan Gagloev and Abkhazia Badra Gunba, as well as the President of the Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Sinisa Karan.
Putin shook hands with the veterans and heroes of the Great Patriotic War who were in the stands, and exchanged a few words with some of them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian Patriarch Kirill on the 81st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, TASS reported.
"We always celebrate this sacred holiday with a sense of filial pride for the great feat of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, who did not submit to the cruel and merciless enemy, crushed Nazism, preserved the Fatherland and saved the whole world. Their steadfastness, firmness and faith in a just cause will serve us as an eternal example of selfless love for the Motherland and personal commitment to its fate“, says the congratulatory message published on the website of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Putin wished the patriarch success and all the best.