Following the ceremony the Presidential Orchestra performed the Russian anthem, after which an honour guard company from the Presidential Regiment, soldiers from the Army, Air Force and Navy, and military cadets from the leading military academies marched past the Eternal Flame.
As he laid a wreath, Vladimir Putin talked with veterans. The head of state then walked along the Kremlin wall and laid flowers on monuments erected in the honour of hero cities.
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, first deputy prime ministers Sergei Ivanov and Dmitrii Medvedev, heads of the Federation Council and State Duma Sergei Mironov and Boris Gryzlov, various heads of ministries, of parliamentary factions, of the military, and veterans of the Great Patriotic War took part in the ceremony.