Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko, along with the St. Petersburg representatives of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly of the CIS, paid tribute to heroes of the Great Patriotic War this week. A tree planting ceremony, part of the “Green Wave” campaign, took place just steps from Piskarevskoye memorial cemetery in St. Petersburg. Celebrations of the Allied victory in World War II have been marred by recent political friction, but veterans and world officials carry on paying tribute.
Participants in the ceremony planted 70 pine trees at the St. Petersburg memorial cemetery where more than half a million inhabitants and defenders of legendary Leningrad siege lay interred. As part of the upcoming celebrations connected with victory over Nazi Germany, Matvienko and other officials took part in the adjacent Piskarevsky Park ceremony. The Piskarevskoye memorial cemetery in St. Petersburg is considered one of the main symbols of heroism and courage of Leningrad during the great Patriotic war.
On April 24th a tree planting ceremony that took place in Moscow to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Elbe River linkage of American and Russian troops on the eve of the Allied Victory in the WWII. Other such ceremonies have been carried out in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
In recent days leaders of several western nations have voiced the dissent over not only attending the May 9 ceremonies in Moscow to recognize the Soviet Union’s and Russia’s sacrifice, but some have even challenge the history of World War II. Despite increased tensions though, ceremonies like the Elbe commemorative mentioned have taken place with regard to veteran solidarity. Various organizations such as the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatiots of the US (KSORS) have organized and taken part in commemorations from Vladivastok to Washington state in the US.
The demonstration in the video below was at Arlington Natonal Cemetery, on the anniversary of the April 26th momentous occasion when Soviet and American forces united on the Elbe River.