The ceremony took place in the Alexander Garden and was attended by war veterans, Armed Forces personnel, and graduates of military schools. Defence Minister Andrei Belousov also laid flowers at the Eternal Flame.
The participants observed a minute of silence in memory of defenders of the Fatherland.
The event continued with a guard of honour squad and a military band marching past the national memorial of military glory.
The President also laid flowers at the Hero City obelisks and a memorial honouring the Cities of Military Glory.
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The Day of Memory and Sorrow commemorates the day when the Great Patriotic War broke out: on June 22, 1941, the Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union without declaring war.
