Putin congratulated the leaders of the CIS countries, the peoples of Georgia and Moldova on Victory Day

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as the peoples of Georgia and Moldova on the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War (WWII). The corresponding appeal was published on the Kremlin's website on May 8.

"It is our sacred duty to carefully preserve the precepts of the generation of winners. Therefore, it is very important to uncompromisingly stop any attempts to distort our common history, whitewash or obliviate the atrocities committed by the Nazis and their accomplices," he stressed.

Putin called for preserving the bequeathed good traditions of friendship and mutual assistance, as well as not allowing the common historical heritage to be "forgotten" and sow discord between friendly peoples.

Among other things, the Russian president sent congratulations to the heads of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Israel.

Happy Victory Day! The best Soviet postcards from May 9th

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told Izvestia on May 7 that Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War is one of the most important events on Putin's schedule.

In turn, the head of state called Victory Day a special holiday for the whole of Russia on April 30. He stressed that it is possible to correctly determine the future of the Russian state only if one understands the price of victory in the Great Patriotic War.