To Lam attends military parade marking 80th anniversary of Great Patriotic War victory
VGP - General Secretary To Lam attends the military parade held in Moscow’s Red Square on May 9 to mark the 80th anniversary of Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War.
Russia invited leaders from 29 countries to attend this year's military parade, according to Assistant to the Russian President Yuri Ushakov. The foreign guests include General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
This year, Viet Nam sent military personnel to join the military parade along with military personnel from armies of other 12 countries.
Russia annually celebrates May 9 as Victory Day. At 12:43 a.m. Moscow time on May 9, 1945, the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany was signed, which ended the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War.
Russia celebrates Victory Day pursuant to the Federal Law "On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia" signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin on March 13, 1995.
In addition, festive processions, gatherings, assemblies and reception ceremonies are held across Russia on May 9 to honor veterans of the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.
The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the Great Patriotic War (40 percent of all human losses in World War II), with civilian deaths accounting for the larger part of these losses, reported the Russian News Agency (TASS).
According to data of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders, the German troops destroyed fully or partially over 1,700 cities and towns, more than 70,000 villages and settlements in the USSR. Direct damage to the state and the population amounted to 679 billion rubles in 1941 prices./.
