22 June 1941 is one of the saddest dates in Russian history. The Great Patriotic War began on this date.
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To mark the 71st anniversary of the start of the VOV, solemn remembrance ceremonies occurred throughout Russia.
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VOV veterans and members of the social-patriotic action committee of the Tomsk Oblast branch of United Russia lit “Remembrance Candles” on the Day of Remembrance and Mourning at the Eternal Flame Memorial of Military and Labour Glory at a Tomsk park.
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People lit 1,418 candles at the Poklonnaya Gora War Memorial in Moscow. Each candle represented one day of the Great Patriotic War.
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President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the fallen of the VOV on the Day of Remembrance and Mourning. He laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Aleksandrovsky Sad in Moscow. In the image above, young people light “Remembrance Candles” at the Aleksandrovsky Sad memorial.
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The German Fascist invaders crossed the Soviet border on 22 June 1941. This began the Great Patriotic War, which lasted 1,418 days, and claimed more than 20 million Soviet lives.
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Until 1992, the first day of the Great Patriotic War wasn’t an official commemoration until a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation on 13 July 1992 declared this day, “Remembrance Day of the Defenders”. A presidential ukase on 8 June 1996 named 22 June, “Day of the Great Patriotic War – Day of Remembrance and Mourning”.
Click here for a video on the ceremonies…
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22 June 2012
RIA-Novosti
Voices from Russia 
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