Ilsur Metshin: "Soldiers of the Great Patriotic War were united by the sense of...

(KZN.RU, June 22, by Olga Gertsev) War veterans, home front workers and the young gathered in the Victory Park today to remember their comrades, relatives and friends who lost their lives in the grim days of World War II. On this day 70 years ago, the Nazi army launched military operations against the USSR.

The meeting was opened with the anthems of Russia and Tatarstan. The Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin welcomed those present saying: "June 22, 1941 went down in history as the day of the treacherous attack by Nazi Germany on our country. That day destroyed the hopes of several generations and crippled their destinies. Today, we’re marking the great Day of Memory and Grief. "

"The Soviet people paid a heavy price for this war. 26.6 million Soviet people and 40 thousand Kazan residents did not return home,” reminded the Mayor. “They were of different ages, ethnicities and occupations, but they all shared one thing in common - a sense of responsibility towards their homeland, to those who were waiting for them and never saw them again.”

The participants paid tribute to the fallen with one minute's silence, then laid flowers at the Eternal Flame.

Later that day, flowers were laid at the Eternal Flame in Victory Park by the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and by the Chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia Nikita Mikhalkov.