THESSALONIKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2019) Russian diplomats laid wreaths at war graves of the Soviet Red Army soldiers in Greece on Victory Day, Russian Consul General in the city of Thessaloniki, Alexander Shcherbakov, told Sputnik.
On Thursday, Russia celebrated the 74th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. In Greece, Russian diplomats began holding commemoration events on Tuesday by visiting the town of Mesovouno, located near the city of Ptolemaida in northwestern Greece, where a memorial commemorating three Soviet soldiers is located. They are known to have escaped a prisoner-of-war camp on the territory of Yugoslavia in 1944 to fight against Nazi Germany alongside the Greek Resistance members.
"Under the existing tradition, we are visiting the memorial and laying flowers there twice a year � on Victory Day and in October when the residents of the village were killed during a punitive raid," Shcherbakov said.
A commemorative public event dedicated to Victory Day was also held in one of the neighborhoods of Thessaloniki on Thursday at the initiative of local graduates of Soviet and Russian universities, according to the diplomat.
Moreover, the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Russian war memorial was held at Allied military cemetery Zeitenlik in Thessaloniki.
Shcherbakov said that wreaths were also laid at the Serbian and Greek monuments.
